Close Race Between Rep. Mike Kelly, Democrat Ron DiNicola Getting Attention

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA)-- The race between Republican Congressman Mike Kelly and his challenger, Democrat Ron DiNicola, is getting a lot of attention leading into Tuesday's midterm elections.

The race is tied in some polls.

"[DiNicola] would be a back bencher. He would follow whatever Nancy Pelosi tells him to do. That's just the truth of the matter," Kelly said.

"[Kelly]'s pursued an agenda that caters primarily to the very wealthy, to the billionaires, to the multinational corporations," DiNicola said.

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Kelly accuses DiNicola of representing criminals throughout his career as a lawyer.

"He has represented some of the worst people in America. Now, he didn't defend them up in Erie. He defended them out in southern California. He's a Hollywood lawyer. The one case where he defended and tried to get off a Mexican drug lord who kidnapped, tortured and murdered one of our DEA agents and he's tried to tell people, 'No, you don't understand, I was a public defender, I had to take that case.' Not so at all," Kelly said.

"Those are all half truths to begin with," DiNicola said in response. "Those cases took place 25, 30 years ago. I was either assigned those cases by a federal judge or by a senior partner. I wasn't lead counsel in any of the ones that were discussed and they were mischaracterized."

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DiNicola has accused Kelly, a member of the tax-writing committee, of voting for a special tax break for car dealerships like the one Kelly himself owns.

"You have a whole period of self-dealing," DiNicola said.

Kelly denies the accusations.

"When you borrow money, that's a cost of doing business. All we did was put into effect what's already been part of the tax code," Kelly said.