The ad war heats up in the Arizona Senate race, with both sides launching digital attacks this week, heralding a future battleground campaign.
National Republican Senatorial Committee launched an attack ad Democratic Republican Ruben Gallego on Thursday after Gallego shot Republican front-runner Kari Lake self advertising this week. And it’s an appetizer for what is expected to be one of the most expensive stakes of any Senate race in the country.
No campaign or party is currently attacking television. But in digital ads that can run at a lower cost, the first preview topics are likely to appear throughout the campaign.
Gallego’s online intervention criticized Lake for reversing his position on the state’s 1864 abortion ban, withdrawing a tape of Lake, a former television host, praising the law in 2022 during his failed bid for Arizona governor.
“We’ve got a big law on the books right now,” Lake Gallego said in a clip featured in a digital ad. “I believe it’s ARS 13-3603,” he continues, leaving no doubt as to which one it is. meant the law.
NRSC’s attack gets personal. “Ruben Gallego abandoned his family, abandoned his newborn son, left his wife and then married a DC lobbyist,” said one female narrator, calling him “deadbeat dad Ruben Gallego.”
Gallego separated from her then-wife, Phoenix Mayor Keith Gallego, in 2016. He has supported her ever since In a bid to vacate the seat of independent Sen. Kyrsten Sineman.
The NRSC said its new ad will run on digital platforms and target women voters. “Arizona women cannot trust a man who divorces his wife weeks before she is due to give birth,” said NRSC spokesperson Tate Mitchell.
With online ad spending falling into negative territory, Gallego is already spending millions of dollars on positive statewide television ads, pitching himself to voters as an advertiser. A Marine veteran raised by a single mother and He voted in Congress lowering drug prices.
According to AdImpact, Gallego spent about $3.8 million on TV ads this year, while Lake spent about $30,000.
Gallego doesn’t just outrun Lake, he outruns it. His campaign raised $7.5 million in the first quarter of 2024, while Lake raised $3.6 million, according to the latest Federal Election Commission filings. Gallego spent $4.4 million and ended the quarter with about $9.6 million in the bank, while Lake spent $2.2 million and ended the quarter with $2.5 million on hand.
At a rally in Lake Havasu over the weekend, Lake said the spring splurge is just the beginning.
“It’s going to be an expensive race — $250 million will be spent in the US Senate race in Arizona,” he said.
He added: “You guys will get so sick of TV commercials that you’ll want to throw your TV off the balcony.”