After Democrats’ long-held edge, Team Trump starts to close the battleground ad spending gap: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill.

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

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After Democrats’ long-held edge, Team Trump starts to close the battleground ad spending gap

By Ben Kamisar

If you live in a swing state and are already sick of seeing presidential campaign ads, buckle up. You’re about to see a whole lot more, thanks in large part to a big uptick in spending on the Republican side. 

With Democrats holding a massive advantage on the airwaves throughout much of the year, Donald Trump’s campaign has started pouring serious money into battleground advertising for the first time since he emerged as the presumptive nominee after largely leaving that responsibility to allied outside groups. 

From June 3 through July 28, the Joe Biden-turned-Kamala Harris campaign spent almost $65 million on TV, radio and digital advertisements across six battleground states, according to the tracking firm AdImpact: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. (That total does not include spending from its joint fundraising committees.) Over that same period of time, the Trump campaign spent less than $230,000.

But over the last two weeks, a dramatic shift from the Trump campaign has helped close the gap. It has spent a total of $13 million in those key states, compared to $16.5 million from the Harris campaign.

The increase from both camps comes after Harris replaced Biden as the Democratic standard-bearer and the conclusion of the Republican National Convention. The Democratic decline in spending that precipitated it came as Biden’s campaign was thrust into turmoil after his poor debate performance. 

A similar trend emerges when ad spending from outside groups supporting the campaigns is included, showing a major Democratic week-to-week edge that has been all but wiped out.

And there’s much more to come, with groups previewing another massive flurry of ad spending as both sides seek to define the new Democratic ticket. Plus, the Trump and Harris campaigns have proven they’re able to raise money hand over fist, which they’ll be able to deploy across the country in what’s expected to be the most expensive presidential race ever.  

Democrats argue the advantage they held for months shouldn’t be discounted. And while it’s now Harris at the top of the ticket, much of the emphasis of the Biden-Harris administration’s accomplishments and the criticism of Trump still holds. 

But we’ve written before about how Republicans have cut into the Democrats’ fundraising edge, and these ad spending numbers show the fruits of that effort.

Democrat Ruben Gallego leans into border security in battleground Senate race

By Alex Tabet

PHOENIX — TV ads showing candidates touring the U.S.-Mexico border have become a staple of Republican campaigns across the country. But this summer, Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego got in on the action as his party tries to win voters’ trust in his battleground Arizona Senate race — and beyond.

“Ruben Gallego has stood side by side with me. The only member of Congress that has come regularly to my border,” Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway said in the ad. “He is fighting for solutions. Better technology. More manpower.”

It’s far from the only border security ad on Arizona’s airwaves. Gallego’s competitor, GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake, has been bashing him on the border, with one ad tying Gallego to Biden and Harris’ policies and featuring a 2017 clip of Gallego on the House floor referring to “Trump’s stupid, dumb border wall.” 

The back-and-forth on the issue reflects the central role the border is playing in many voters’ calculations, as well as Democrats’ realization that the public did not see their rhetoric or policies as up to the task of handling a growing number of migrants in recent years. 

Gallego’s early efforts to prove himself to voters on the issue are now reflected in other Democratic campaigns. One of the first TV ads Harris launched after taking over as the party’s presidential candidate focused on border security, though the issue did not feature in a year-plus of Biden’s broadcast TV advertising captured by the tracking firm AdImpact.

The issue also illustrates Gallego’s efforts to redefine himself — and his opponent’s efforts to highlight his progressive past — as he tries to move from a deep-blue House district to statewide office in one of the nation’s most tightly divided battlegrounds.

It’s why Gallego struck a different tone, though not an entirely different angle, when NBC News asked if he still believes Trump’s border wall initiative is “stupid” and “dumb.”  

“I think border walls are necessary in certain areas. Putting border walls in areas that you don’t need only costs more money and then also costs manpower,” Gallego said, arguing a full-fledged southern border wall is a performative waste of taxpayer dollars.

Read more on Gallego’s border position → 

That’s all from the Politics Desk for now. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com

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