Harris campaign announces $370M battleground ad push

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign announced plans to spend at least $370 million on advertisements between Labor Day and Election Day, a massive allotment of funds aimed at expanding growth in battleground states in the final sprint toward the presidential election.

A press release from Harris’ principal deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks and digital director Rob Flaherty on Saturday morning outlined plans for the campaign to order $170 million in TV reservations, as well as over $200 million in digital reservations, citing the campaign’s goal to “reach voters where they are." The ads will follow the campaign’s current $150 million media blitz for August and will focus on “aggressively defining” Harris’ positions to voters and countering the attacks lobbed at her by her opponent.

“The Harris-Walz campaign’s advertising strategy is designed to break through a fragmented media environment and reach the voters who will decide this election,” Fulks and Flaherty wrote in the release. To maximize its possible pathways to winning 270 electoral votes, the campaign is investing significantly in ads in the Sun Belt states Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada in addition to Midwest battlegrounds Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Recent polling shows the vice president leading former President Donald Trump in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. At the same time, she appears to be regaining some ground in Arizona, North Carolina, Nevada and Georgia , where President Joe Biden’s popularity had slipped before he ended his reelection campaign.

According to the release, the ad blitz will zero in on Harris’ personal story and background, highlighting the “stark contrast” between her record and Trump’s conservative policy platforms, including his ties to the controversial Project 2025. The campaign also touted its effort to secure ad reservations early, particularly during high-viewership programming, like sporting events and fan-favorite primetime shows like “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Survivor.” Even daytime Fox News viewers can expect to see ads for the Democratic ticket, as the Harris-Walz ad campaign will target a “more moderate” Fox News audience in hopes of drawing in “conservative leaning independents.”

“Trump will not have the opportunity to speak to voters like we will,” the campaign said.

The new allotment of funding for digital ads is aimed at platforms like Hulu, Roku, YouTube, Paramount, Spotify and Pandora, and does not include additional spending for social, search or other high-impact ad placements. The campaign believes it is on track to “spend more on digital persuasion media than any political organization ever.”