Team Trump starts to close the battleground ad spending gap: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the policy deskevening bulletin that brings you the latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill from the NBC News Politics team.

In today’s edition, national political reporter Ben Kamisar comments on the state of the presidential campaign advertising race. Plus, the campaign posted reports of Alex Tabet from Phoenix, a rare Democratic candidate leaning on border security.

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After a long period of Democratic dominance, Team Trump is starting to close the ad spending gap in the battleground state

By Ben Kamisar

If you live in a swing state and are sick of seeing presidential ads, shut up. You’re about to see a lot more, thanks in large part to a huge increase in spending on the Republican side.

With Democrats holding a large lead in the airwaves for much of the year, Donald Trump’s campaign has begun pouring serious money into battleground advertising for the first time since emerging as the presumptive nominee after ceding that responsibility to allied outside groups.

From June 3 to July 28, Joe Biden’s Kamala Harris campaign spent nearly $65 million on television, radio and digital ads in six battleground states, according to the firm, which tracks Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. . (This total does not include the costs of his joint fundraising committees.) During the same period, the Trump campaign spent less than $230,000.

But over the past two weeks, a sharp shift from the Trump campaign has helped close the gap. He spent just $13 million in those key states, compared to $16.5 million from the Harris campaign.

The rise of both camps comes after Harris replaced Biden as the Democratic standard-bearer and the conclusion of the Republican National Convention. Democratic spending cuts accelerated it Biden’s campaign has been in turmoil after a poor debate performance.

A similar trend emerges when we include advertising spending by fringe groups supporting the campaigns, showing a large Democratic weekly margin that has been completely erased.

There’s more to come, with groups considering another massive ad spend as both sides want it. define the new Democratic ticket. What’s more, the Trump and Harris campaigns have proven they can raise fistfuls of money they can deploy across the country in what is expected to be the most expensive presidential race ever.

Democrats argue that the advantage they have held for months should not be compromised. With Harris now at the top of the ticket, the emphasis on the achievements of the Biden-Harris administration and the criticism of Trump remain.

But we have already written how it is Republicans were cut The Democrats’ fundraising advantage and these ad spending numbers show that effort is paying off.

Democrat Ruben Gallego is leaning on border security in his battleground Senate race

By Alex Tabet

PHOENIX – Television ads featuring candidates walking across the U.S.-Mexico border have become a staple of Republican campaigns across the country. But this summer, Democratic-Republican Ruben Gallego’s party is on the move as it tries to win back the trust of voters in the Arizona Senate battleground and beyond.

“Ruben Gallego stood by me. The only member of Congress who regularly visits my border,” Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway the ad says. “He fights for solutions. Better technology. More manpower.”

This is far from the only border security ad on the Arizona airwaves. Gallego’s opponent, GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake, was beating him by the margin. an announcement Ties Gallego to the policies of Biden and Harris and features a 2017 clip of Gallego referring to “Trump’s stupid, dumb border wall” on the House floor.

The back-and-forth on the issue reflects the central role the border plays in the calculus of many voters, as well as the fact that Democrats don’t see the public seeing their rhetoric or policies as up to the task of managing the growing numbers. migrants in recent years.

Gallego’s early efforts to prove himself to voters on the issue are now being echoed in other Democratic campaigns. One of the first TV commercials Harris took the job after focusing on border security as the party’s presidential nominee, though the issue was not featured in a broadcast television ad captured by Biden’s tracking firm AdImpact for a year.

The issue also shows Gallego trying to redefine itself — and his opponent’s efforts to emphasize his progressive background — as he tries to move from a deep-blue House district to state office in one of the nation’s most tightly divided battlegrounds.

So when Gallego was asked by NBC News if he still believed Trump’s border wall initiative was “stupid” and “dumb,” he struck a different tone, if not an entirely different angle.

“I think that border walls are needed in certain areas. Building border walls in areas where you don’t need them not only costs more money, but also costs manpower,” Gallego said, arguing that a full-fledged southern border wall would be an extreme waste of taxpayer money.

Read more about Gallego’s border position →

That’s all for the Policy Desk for now. If you have feedback – like it or not – send us an email politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com

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