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Capitol View®
Briana Bierschbach

Radinovich addresses attack ads with personal response

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Facing attacks ads on his past indiscretions, congressional candidate Joe Radinovich responded Tuesday with his own online ad addressing his personal struggles.

The two minute digital video shows Radinovich, a Democrat from Crosby, looking straight into the camera talking about a day he came home from track practice in 2003 to find a family member had attempted suicide with a firearm. Then, 11 months later, he said his mother was shot to death by a family member in a murder-suicide.

"I struggled in the wake of that," he said. "Boy, did I struggle."

Radinovich is in a competitive race for the open 8th District seat in northeastern Minnesota. Recent polling shows him trailing Republican candidate Pete Stauber.

The deeply personal ad was in response to an ad on the air attacking Radinovich for a court record that includes 30 driving violations since 2004, including multiple instances of driving with a suspended license. His record also includes a citation for possession of drug paraphernalia that was later dismissed under a plea deal.

The ad from the Congressional Leadership Fund, which helps elected Republicans to Congress, contrasts his record of violations with that Stauber's time as a Duluth police officer.

"What is career politician Joe Radinovich hiding?" the ad asks. "Radinovich has a history of breaking the law."

In the ad, Radinovich said he was able to recover from the tragedy because of teachers who supported him in the public school system and his father's union job.

"These millionaires and billionaires and Washington special interests flooding our airwaves with negative ads want you to believe that we should be forever defined by our mistakes, our lowest moments, and by our struggles," Radinovich said in his response ad. "What I know is that my struggles made me stronger."

Already, outside groups have spent an upwards of $9 million in the 8th District race.

See the full ad here: