An Unusual Strategy: This PAC On Drug Prices Is Sinking Millions Into Races It Knows It Can’t Impact
The Patients for Affordable Drugs says that where its money can’t help decide a race, it can still send a message: that politicians running campaigns funded by drug companies will face retribution. But some experts are dubious.
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Why Is This Drug Pricing PAC Spending Millions On Long-Shot Races?
In 26 years in Congress, Rep. Anna Eshoo has always won reelection by at least 20 points. The Democrat is virtually certain to win big once again in November, buoyed largely by voters in her wealthy Silicon Valley district who do not struggle to pay for their prescription drugs. So why is a political action committee focused on high drug prices bothering to sink $500,000 into attack ads against her? The ad blitz from Patients for Affordable Drugs highlights the unorthodox tack the group is taking in the 2018 midterm elections: intervening in races in which there is no hope of altering the outcome. (Robbins and Facher, 10/5)