Republican anti-Trump group to launch new swing state ads

A Republican group opposing former President Trump is launching a “swing state ad blitz” Tuesday, spending $11.5 million on billboards and television advertisements featuring former Trump voters who support Vice President Kamala Harris.

The campaign will run through the month of September in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and in Nebraska’s second congressional district. Nebraska is one of two states, along with Maine, that splits its electoral votes based on congressional districts, awarding bonus votes to the overall winner of the state.

The group running the ads, Republican Voters Against Trump, has been active in running regular focus groups of Republicans in hopes of finding the most effective messages to swing their votes away from Trump. One ad features a group of former Trump voters holding him responsible for the Jan. 6 insurrection, the mistreatment of women and calling service members “suckers and losers.”

The billboards feature pictures of voters with the quote: “I’m a former Trump voter. I’m voting for Harris.”

Former Trump voters were also featured prominently at the Democratic National Convention. Trump has tried to counter that message by highlighting support from former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who left the Democratic Party in 2022, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the anti-vaccine activist who suspended his presidential campaign last week to endorse Trump.

The two campaigns and their allies are expected to spend in excess of $1 billion each trying to capture the small slice of persuadable voters in what is expected to be a close election.