Is the New Republic the Media Arm for Sean Eldridge’s Campaign?

November 4, 2013

The National Republican Congressional Committee asked the New Republic if they would be interested in publishing an online ad.

After initially expressing interest, TNR’s sales director shot down the ad buy once they saw that the ad was critical of Sean Eldridge, the liberal Democrat candidate for New York’s 19th District. Why? Could it possibly have to do with the fact that Chris Hughes, the owner and publisher of TNR, is Eldridge’s husband?

Unless the New Republic wants to admit that it will be serving as the communications shop for Eldridge’s congressional campaign, it needs to explain why they feel it is appropriate to censor speech and keep the truth away from voters in the 19th District.

From Politico:

The National Republican Campaign Committee really wants to get Sean Eldridge’s goat.

Back on his birthday, they sent him a copy of Mark Leibovich’s “This Town” — a publicity stunt intended to suggest that the wealthy Democratic congressional candidate would identify with “Washington’s out-of-touch political elite.”

Now, they’ve asked his husband, New Republic owner and publisher Chris Hughes, to publish an anti-Eldridge ad on the magazine’s website.

On Friday, the NRCC submitted a 300×250 advertisement to run on the TNR homepage that read, “Is Your Vote For Sale? Sean Eldridge Thinks So…” and directed readers toward an NRCC-backed anti-Eldridge website. The price for a three-day run was $500.

Bob Brennan, TNR’s sales director, had initially expressed interest in the NRCC’s inquiry about an advertisement but soon shot it down after learning that it was directed against his boss’s husband.

“We reserve the right to approve all creative which runs on our site,” he wrote to the NRCC on Monday. “Your creative does not meet with our approval. Thank you for considering The New Republic.”

Via email, TNR spokesperson Annie Augustine told POLITICO, “The New Republic has always reserved the discretion to choose which companies and organizations we partner with for our advertising.”

Sean Eldridge For Congress