Republicans who oppose Trump launched an $11.5 million ad buy in key battleground states on Tuesday, the group’s largest ad buy so far this cycle.
The group is targeting voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona. The ad buy will also be in Nebraska’s competitive 2nd district. $4.5 million of the ad buy will be in Pennsylvania, $3 million in Michigan and $2.2 million in Wisconsin. The group will spend $1.5 million in Arizona and $375,000 in Nebraska’s 2nd district.
The effort includes a 30-second ad featuring a former Trump voter who said he plans to support Harris in November, as well as 79 billboards featuring former Trump voters.
“We help amplify the voices of disaffected Republicans and build permission for many other traditional GOP voters to reject Donald Trump and his MAGA movement, even if it means voting for a Democrat with whom they have policy differences,” said Sarah Longwell, executive director of the Republican Anti-Trump Voters group.
The ad buy comes as Harris’s campaign makes a play for Republican voters. Last week, more than 200 former GOP staffers for four previous GOP presidential candidates endorsed Harris, noting that while they share policy disagreements with Harris, Trump is “simply unacceptable.”
In August, the Harris campaign launched “Republican Voters for Harris,” which included more than 25 GOP endorsements, including former secretaries of state Chuck Hagel and Ray LaHood, as well as former GOP governors and lawmakers. Several Republicans, including former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), former Georgia lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan (R-Ga.), and former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, spoke at the Democratic National Convention last month.
Harris continues to lead Trump in national and state polls. The Hill/Decision Desk HQ average of polls shows Harris leading Trump nationally, 49.4% to 45.4%. In Pennsylvania, Harris leads by 0.7%, in Michigan by 1.6%, in Wisconsin by 3.4%, and in Arizona, Harris leads Trump by a narrow 0.1%. The Hill/Decision Desk analysis of Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District gives Harris an 82% chance of winning the district.
Nebraska gives two of its five electoral votes to the statewide winner in the presidential election, and one electoral vote to the candidate who wins the most votes in three congressional districts, including the growing Omaha metropolitan area that has been a Democratic powerhouse in the state. This dynamic could make the district a key player in November.
