Milo begins airing cable TV ads in bid for Republican congressional nomination

Apr. 4—Former LaPorte Mayor Blair Milo is taking the fight for Northwest Indiana's Republican U.S. House nomination to a new battlefield: television.

The U.S. Navy veteran on Monday unveiled the first television ad by any of the seven GOP candidates competing in the May 3 primary election for Indiana's1st Congressional District of Lake, Porter and northwest LaPorte counties.

The 30-second commercial highlights Milo's military service and condemns Democratic President Joe Biden and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., "for threatening all we hold dear" through "open borders, skyrocketing prices, threats to law enforcement and our kids' futures."

"That all stops now," Milo proclaims in the ad. "I've taken on threats my whole life, to serve you and this nation, and I'm ready to do it again."

The Milo campaign said it's spending about $45,000 to air the ad on cable television stations in all three counties in the district as part of the "first phase" of her TV buy.

"Indiana's1st District is a highly competitive seat that has trended Republican for years and is now primed to elect a conservative to help put an end to the Biden/Pelosi disaster in Washington," Milo said.

Milo is not the first Republican congressional candidate for Northwest Indiana to put out a campaign video this year, however.

Jennifer-Ruth Green, of Crown Point, released a 90-second video on her campaign website in January that details her experience as an Air Force combat veteran and her goal to "leave this country better than we found it."

"Like you, I'm disappointed in all the divisive rhetoric and the clear leadership crisis," Green says in the video. "We need accountable leaders of character. My training has taught me that leaders lead from the front, and that's what I'll do in Congress."

Both Green and Milo are supplementing their video messages with mailers going out to likely Republican voters just as early voting begins Tuesday.

They've also personally visited with Republican activists and voters at local party meetings and church services across Northwest Indiana over the past few months.

There's been no publicly released polling in the race. Though Milo's mayoral experience and Green's planeload of endorsements almost certainly make them among the favorites, along with Mark Leyva, of Highland, the Republican nominee in eight congressional elections since 2002.

Also running are Martin Lucas, of Schererville; Nicholas Pappas, of Portage; Ben Ruiz, of East Chicago; and Aaron Storer, of Schererville.

The winner of the Republican primary will face the winner of the Democratic primary, likely U.S. Rep. Frank J. Mrvan, D-Highland, in the Nov. 8 general election for a two-year term representing Northwest Indiana in the U.S. House.

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