Pro-Trump super PAC plans $100M ad blitz

A pro-Trump super PAC is planning a $100 million TV ad blitz in the lead-up to Labor Day, a massive sum as Trump moves to regain his footing in the campaign .

MAGA Inc, the principal Trump-aligned super PAC, announced the reservations in a memo to “Interested Parties” on Monday. The commercials will air in seven Rust Belt and Sun Belt states that are likely to determine the outcome of the election.

Republicans have spent several weeks scrambling to undercut Vice President Kamala Harris, who entered the race last month after President Joe Biden withdrew. The super PAC’s ads will focus on defining Harris as a “soft-on-crime radical who is too dangerous for the White House,” the organization’s top strategists, David Lee and Chris Grant, write in the memo. “Americans might vote for a liberal, but they won’t vote for a lunatic.”

The group’s attack — which will coincide with the start of next week’s Democratic National Convention — focuses on Harris’ immigration policies and her past record as a prosecutor, according to a person familiar with the super PAC’s plans who was granted anonymity to describe them.

The ads will air in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina.

Harris has vaulted ahead of Trump in some polling, alarming some Republicans who have criticized Trump’s lack of a disciplined approach to attacking her. While some top party officials have pushed to portray Harris as an out-of-the-mainstream liberal, Trump has lurched onto other topics. In recent days he has attacked popular podcaster Joe Rogan, complained about coverage of Harris’ crowd sizes and questioned her racial identity .

According to the person familiar with the group’s plans, a constellation of outside groups connected with MAGA Inc. have raised $120 million since the start of the Republican National Convention on July 15, over half of which was raised by the super PAC. The group’s biggest donor through May has been Timothy Mellon, a reclusive transportation company executive who has contributed $76.5 million. The super PAC has raised $318 million in total since its founding in 2022.

The organization is undergoing personnel changes in the run-up to the election. Taylor Budowich, a former Trump aide who had been leading the super PAC, is leaving the group to join the Trump campaign’s senior leadership team. Budowich joins several other Trump aides, including pollster Tony Fabrizio and spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, who have departed the super PAC to buttress the campaign’s ranks. Lee and Grant have been tapped by Budowich to oversee the super PAC in the final months leading up to the election.

The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.