AFSCME is launching when it’s describing as a six-figure ad purchase starting next week in the 19th Congressional district race, knocking incumbent Rep. Chris Gibson for siding with GOP lawmakers like Paul Ryan and Michelle Bachmann.

The independent expenditure ad is just one of many that’s been blanketing the airwaves in closely watched House races across the state.

In the NY-19, where Democrat Julian Schreibman has sought to turn the race on Medicare, Gibson has decried the negative ad campaigns that he says distort his record.

The negativity aside, the ad purchase comes at a critical time for the House race, with both independent and internal Republican polls show Gibson with leads.

But the newly drawn district — half of which is new territory for Gibson — can be troublesome for the freshman incumbent.

Gibson did vote for the 2011 Ryan budget plan, but this year sided with a more bipartisan deficit reduction proposal that he says he will continue to push for in Washington in order to avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff” later this year.

“Since his election, the middle class under Chris Gibson has taken hit after hit. He has proven time and time again that he will vote for corporate interests over those of the middle class. His plans to end the guarantee of Medicare, give tax breaks to companies who ship jobs overseas and gamble social security on Wall Street would hurt middle class families in New York. Julian Schreibman will help the middle class families get back on their feet,” said Seth Johnson, AFSCME Assistant Political Director.

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