‘Tis the season for elections. In the world of REALTORS®, this time of year is when you here the letters “R-P-A-C” uttered more frequently. RPAC stands for “REALTORS® Political Action Committee,” and this PAC provides support for candidates and legislative issues that are favorable to the real estate industry. RPAC is unique in that it can’t be pinned down to supporting just the “left” or just the “right”. It’s the real estate issues that matter.
At the local level, your Dayton REALTORS® Government Affairs Committee interviewed many open races, speaking with opposing candidates and getting a good sense of where they stand on real estate concerns. After thorough debate, the committee chose to offer financial support to several of these candidates. View the RPAC-supported local candidates here.
At the national level, NAR’s RPAC Federal Disbursement Trustees Committee looked at the voting records of members of Congress to see how they’ve supported (or not) REALTOR® issues. In our jurisdiction, NAR has provided various levels of support for incumbents Steve Chabot, Mike Turner, and Sherrod Brown. View information on these candidates here.
Here’s a brief look at how some of these campaigns are going:
- For those of you who reside in Springboro, Congressman Steve Chabot is in a tough race against Hamilton County Treasurer Aftab Pureval. A New York Times/ Siena poll taken at the end of September had Chabot leading by 9 points with a margin of error of +/- 4.5 points. A new New York Times/Siena poll released on October 26th shows the state of the race unchanged with Chabot maintaining his 9 point edge. The Cook Political Report has this race a tossup. This will be one to watch on election night.
- Residents of Montgomery and Greene Counties may have noticed a barrage of ads coming from the campaigns of Congressman Turner and his opponent Theresa Gasper. Although there isn’t any polling available, the Cook Political report moved this race from Solid R to Likely R in April, but it hasn’t changed since. It looks as though Turner is safe, but this race may be his most competitive yet.
- In the Senate, Senator Brown is running for his 3rd term as Senator with Congressman Jim Renacci also vying for the seat in what was supposed to be a competitive race. Political spectators marked this race as one to watch months ago, calling this race a potential referendum on President Trump. However, as the months have unfolded, the race itself looks to be a big landslide for Brown. The most recent polling by Suffolk has Brown leading by a 16 point margin, which is consistent with polling dating back to June that showed Brown enjoying 17 point lead.
