eight years after the financial crisis, anti-wall street rhetoric remains a staple of congressional campaigns across the country, with democrats and republicans alike launching bank-bashing television ads in nearly three dozen competitive races. in the hotly contested indiana senate election, for example, democrat evan bayh <u+2019>s recent stints as an asset manager and as a regional bank director are being used as reasons not to vote for him. <u+201c>evan bayh went from the banking committee to a big bank board room<u+2026>,<u+201d> says the narrator of a 30-second ad paid for by the senate leadership fund, a super pac linked to senate majority leader mitch mcconnell (r., ky.). the spot brands mr. bayh <u+201c>wall street<u+2019>s dream senator.<u+201d> <u+201c>that<u+2019>s pretty rich,<u+201d> said bayh spokesman ben ray. <u+201c>evan voted for the toughest wall street reform since the great depression,<u+201d> he said, referring to the politician<u+2019>s backing for the 2010 dodd-frank overhaul act during his previous senate term. kantar media<u+2019>s campaign media analysis group, an analytics firm that monitors advertising in close contests, identified for the wall street journal 34 senate and house races in 25 states where candidates have used <u+201c>wall street<u+201d> or <u+201c>banks<u+201d> as invectives to try to tarnish their opponents. that<u+2019>s a decline from the past two presidential election cycles, said steven passwaiter, a kantar vice president. still, he added, <u+201c>wall street is always a convenient tool. in these tightly contested races, portraying candidates as catering to the big banks can be used to swing enough votes.<u+201d> similar sentiments have coursed through the presidential race this year. vermont sen. bernie sanders regularly criticized hillary clinton during the democratic primary for the close ties he said she and her husband, former president bill clinton, had cultivated with the financial industry. her republican rival, donald trump, has echoed that rhetoric, blasting her during their final debate for her ads <u+201c>paid for by your friends on wall street that gave so much money because they know you<u+2019>re going to protect them.<u+201d> mrs. clinton has made strengthening financial regulation a core plank of her platform, while also pledging to enforce rules aimed at curbing wall street pay and giving enforcement agencies more resources to <u+201c>prosecute wrongdoing.<u+201d> while mr. bayh and mrs. clinton are both under fire for their finance connections, most of the targets are republicans. like mr. bayh, pennsylvania sen. pat toomey also faces harsh television ads alluding to his pre-politics career as an investment banker in the 1980s, calling him a <u+201c>wall street wheeler-dealer.<u+201d> <u+201c>while on the senate banking committee, pat toomey voted to rewrite rules to help bankers like him and voted to eliminate protections put into place to stop wall street<u+2019>s risky practices,<u+201d> says an ad released oct. 7 by his democratic challenger katie mcginty. toomey campaign spokesman ted kwong said the ad gives a misleading impression of the republican lawmaker<u+2019>s<u+00a0>record,<u+00a0>saying that mr. toomey <u+201c>led the fight in the senate to end taxpayer bailouts of big banks<u+201d> by voting in 2012 against extending a crisis-era program offering unlimited deposit insurance for certain accounts. one of the embattled house republicans, bruce poliquin of maine, is taking heat for working<u+00a0>at a chicago savings and loan after college and then a new york fund management company. in september, house majority pac, a group aimed at helping democrats pick up house seats, released a 30-second ad with the narrator branding mr. poliquin a <u+201c>wall street millionaire who puts himself first,<u+201d> adding: <u+201c>people like that don<u+2019>t fit in up here.<u+201d> poliquin spokesman michael byerly said that when the lawmaker was in the financial industry <u+201c>he worked to help protect workers<u+2019> pensions, including those at bath iron works,<u+201d> a storied maine shipyard. other lawmakers are being criticized for backing policies portrayed as<u+00a0>benefiting<u+00a0>the financial industry at the same time they have taken contributions from employees in the sector. gop rep. joe heck, locked in a tight race for an open senate seat in nevada, has been hit with ads<u+00a0>sponsored by the american federation of state, county and municipal employees, the largest government worker trade union, for his support for proposals allowing americans to invest social security funds. <u+201c>in washington, congressman joe heck supports privatizing [social security], turning our savings over to wall street, and risking it on the stock market,<u+201d> the ad says. <u+201c>heck<u+2019>s plan means billions more for<u+00a0>wall street, and they<u+2019>ve donated over half a million dollars to his campaign.<u+201d> the securities and investment industry<u+00a0>has donated $552,580 to mr. heck, according to data compiled from the center for responsive politics. <u+201c>the implication that funds raised from the banking industry were an <u+2018>investment<u+2019> in heck is highly misleading,<u+201d> says a statement provided by his congressional staff. ohio republican sen. rob portman has weathered similar attacks from his challenger, former democratic gov. ted strickland. <u+201c>wall street has given rob portman millions in campaign contributions and he pushed a plan to privatize social security and risk your retirement in the stock market,<u+201d> a narrator says on a 30-second strickland ad released in july. <u+201c>maybe rob portman should be running for the senator of wall street not ohio?<u+201d> a spokesman for sen. portman<u+2019>s campaign didn't respond to<u+00a0>multiple<u+00a0>requests<u+00a0>for comment. mr. strickland used a similar tactic during the 2010 gubernatorial race against his republican challenger, john kasich, running an ad claiming, <u+201c>john kasich helped wall street predator lehman brothers destroy the world economy.<u+201d> mr. kasich joined lehman brothers<u+2019> investment banking division after leaving congress in 2001, and worked there until the firm<u+2019>s collapse in september 2008. at least in mr. strickland<u+2019>s races, the wall street-bashing hasn<u+2019>t seemed effective. he was ousted by mr. kasich in that race. and polls show him trailing far behind mr. portman this year. write to donna borak at donna.borak@wsj.com
wall street plays villain in congressional campaign tv ads - wsj
donna borak