STATESBORO, Ga. (AP) – Democratic Rep. John Barrow and his Republican rival blamed each other in a debate Thursday for lobbing unfair attacks in a flood of negative advertising during their congressional race in eastern Georgia.
Barrow of Augusta is running for a sixth term against GOP businessman Rick Allen in Georgia’s only competitive U.S. House race. The incumbent is a Democrat whose 12th District seat was redrawn years ago to favor Republicans. Not only have the candidates spent heavily on TV ads, but their respective parties and other third-party groups have poured more than $4 million into the campaign – mostly on attack ads in the Augusta and Savannah markets.
“I can’t let my wife watch television,” Allen said, when asked about the tone of the race during their debate at Ogeechee Technical College in Statesboro. “It’s hard for us to go to bed at night because I’m getting accused of raising taxes and I’ve never held public office.”
Democratic Party ads have accused Allen’s construction company of profiting from government contracts paid for by tax increases. What the ads don’t say is the projects were funded by penny sales taxes approved by voters at the local level.
Barrow said Allen is hardly innocent when it comes to negative campaigning.