Outside groups launch new TV ads against U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin

With a little more than a year to election day 2018, a conservative group is going up with a large television and digital ad buy against Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin.

Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce said it will spend $1.6 million to highlight what it called Baldwin's "long history of supporting higher taxes and preserving a broken system rigged against ordinary Americans."

The buy includes two TV ads, including one with the claim, "Senators like Tammy Baldwin are the problem."

The newest ad flurry comes just a day after Restoration PAC launched a $625,000 TV ad buy in support of Delafield businessman Kevin Nicholson and against Baldwin.

Nicholson and state Sen. Leah Vukmir of Brookfield are the only announced Republicans running to face Baldwin next year.

Brad Bainum, a spokesman for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, said: "The dishonest smear attacks continue as out-of-state special interests pour in millions of dollars to take down Tammy Baldwin and replace her with someone willing to sell out Wisconsin families. The truth is, Tammy supports tax cuts for Wisconsin working families, while far-right ideologue Leah Vukmir and Illinois mega-donor puppet Kevin Nicholson want to raise taxes on hardworking Wisconsinites so they can gift huge tax cuts to the out-of-state billionaires funding these smear ads."