GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign will kick off a $10 million advertising offensive in six battleground states this week to challenge a surge of donations and voter enthusiasm for his Democrat rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
It’s Trump’s most significant ad spend since January when he was fending off GOP rivals for the party’s nomination. The blitz comes as Harris’ candidacy has changed the race.
Since President Joe Biden withdrew last week from the presidential race and endorsed Harris, she rapidly amalgamated support from big-dollar donors and within the Democratic Party. Additionally, she has sparked a new energy among groups like younger voters that Biden had struggled to win over.
After several months of attacks on Biden’s fitness for office, Trump’s campaign has had to pivot to find a unique message to use against the more dynamic and younger Harris, 59, with less than 100 days to go before the November 5 election.
On Monday, Trump, 78, released an ad on his Truth Social social media platform, using Harris’s own words taken from old interviews, debates, and campaign events to attempt to portray her as an extreme liberal who is out-of-touch with everyday Americans, specifically in the Rust Belt.
Harris, in response, accused Trump’s campaign of lying about her record.
“Vice President Harris has been a key leader in working across the aisle to pass the Biden-Harris administration’s historic, popular agenda,” said Sarafina Chitika, Harris spokesperson.
Since Harris emerged as her party’s candidate, she has focused on Trump’s felony convictions in a New York hush-money case and the other criminal charges he continues to face and portrayed him as responsible for a plethora of anti-abortion measures in GOP-led states countrywide.
A super PAC that supported Trump, MAGA Inc., set off a parallel ad blitz when it said last week it is set to spend $32 million in three states on new ads critiquing VP Harris.
Unlike presidential campaigns, donations to super PACS are not limited, meaning they often have additional money to spend. However, they are not permitted to coordinate strategy with campaigns.
A Democratic super PAC, Future Forward, said it is launching a $50 million effort to back Harris in Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. These six states are seen as pivotal to deciding the election because their voting preferences can swing either way.
Harris’ campaign raised $200 million in campaign funds last week
Sunday, Harris’ campaign said it raised $200 million in new campaign funds last week.
Although Harris is well known, her positions on some policies are not.
“She has a second chance to make a first impression,” said pollster Evan Roth Smith of Blueprint, a Democratic polling firm.
However, the danger for Harris lies in whether Trump’s campaign can define her in voters’ minds before her campaign can reach the airwaves.
Chair of Wisconsin’s Republican Party, Brian Schimming, said the GOP is moving to do just that.
“It’s about letting people know that if you didn’t like Joe Biden, you’re really not going to like Kamala Harris,” said Schimming.
As a presidential candidate during the 2020 election, Harris adopted several left-leaning positions on healthcare and immigration to court liberals. However, as Biden’s vice president, she has remained true to the Biden administration’s more pragmatic policies.
