GOP presidential candidates Tim Scott and Doug Burgum this week launched new ad campaigns in Iowa and New Hampshire.
The commercials are just part of what promises to be a record-smashing presidential campaign cycle — already at $70 million in campaign ad buys and rapidly rising, according to AdImpact.
Burgum, the popular North Dakota governor who jumped into the GOP presidential primary race earlier this month, announced a $1.2 million ad buy in Iowa and New Hampshire. The latest ad, running on broadcast, cable, and digital platforms, hammer President Joe Biden on his costly energy policies.
“We should be selling energy to our allies instead of buying it from our enemies,” Burgum says in the spot, repeating one of his top campaign talking points. “But Joe Biden shut down our oil and gas production.
The images of a confused-looking Biden do the Democrats no favors.
Bergum said he wants Iowa and New Hampshire voters to know that true energy independence will “lower gas prices, unleash the economy, and strengthen national security.”
His home state just happens to be one of the top oil producers in America.
Scott, a U.S. Senator from South Carolina, rolled out a radio ad titled “Sanctity of Life.” It’s slated to run on Christian radio stations in Iowa, whose evangelical Christians are engaged and reliable caucus voters. The ad is part of a “six-figure” radio spot campaign airing in Iowa this summer.
The 30-second ad lays out Scott’s Christian conservative credentials, his “100 percent pro-life voting record” and his support for the former President Donald Trump-appointed conservative Supreme Court justices who helped send “Roe v. Wade to the ash heap of history.”
“As president, I will sign the most pro-life legislation that reaches my desk. Our immediate priority should be passing a national 15 week limit on abortion while we support Republican led states that do even more to protect life,” Scott, the only black Republican in the U.S. Senate, pledged.
Scott’s campaign has spent some $3.5 million on ads in Iowa, and about $2 million in New Hampshire, according to AdImpact.
Voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina are being inundated with presidential primary campaign ads seven months before the first nominating states hold their caucuses and primaries. They’ll have to get used to it, as they have for many presidential election cycles.
But these testing grounds for presidential campaigns can expect to see more campaign ads, mailers and emails and text solicitations than ever.
“Overall, since the start of 2023, all campaigns and outside groups have combined to spend nearly $70 million on advertising for the presidential race already,” CNN reported. “That amount is nearly double what had been spent at this point in the last presidential cycle – during a competitive Democratic primary – when all candidates and groups had spent about $35 million in the first six months of 2019.”
Never Back Down, a super PAC backing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, has spent nearly $15.5 million on advertisements, with $4.3 million of that for pro-DeSantis messages in Iowa and $3.7 million in South Carolina.
The latest ad declares DeSantis is “waging a war on woke and winning.”
“Ron DeSantis is fearless, fighting for our kids, fighting for our values,” the narrator says.
With fresh fundraising numbers for the second quarter expected to be released in mid-July, the contenders will be looking harder at how best to get their message out — and just how long they’ll be able to pay for it.
– – –
M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Tim Scott” by Tim Scott. Photo “Doug Burgum” by Doug Burgum.
