PHOENIX — A PAC affiliated with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the Arizona Senate race, Democratic Rep. Reuben Gallego is making his first foray into the 2024 general election ad campaign by endorsing him.
The group, CHC BOLD PAC, said it is spending about $1.1 million on cable, radio and digital ads targeting Latina matriarchs across the battleground state.
This adTitled “La Jefas” (“The Boss”), hit the air in Spanish and Spanglish. “Grandmothers, mothers, sisters — bosses,” says a narrator, over the soft sounds of an acoustic guitar and a trumpet in the background. “In the Senate, he will fight for them,” the narrator promises about Gallego.
The PAC told NBC News that $689,415 of the investment will go to Spanish broadcast spots, while $250,000 will be spent on digital ads and $158,000 on statewide Spanish radio. Overall, it is the largest expenditure in the group’s 23-year history.
The PAC’s executive director, Victoria McGrory, said the group plans to make the spending in Arizona just this election season. McGrory confirmed that more Latino Democratic Senate and House candidates will receive investments but did not share specifics on who can expect an injection of cash.
Gallego’s campaign has been outnumbered and trailing Republican Kari Lake in a hotly contested Arizona Senate race. In the second fundraising quarter, he raised $10.4 million for his campaign, while Lake raised $4.3 million. Gallego has poured it into advertising, splashing more than $16.6 million on TV ads so far, according to AdImpact.
A recent analysis from AdImpact shows Phoenix as the nation’s third-most targeted political ad market, with $107.5 million worth of spots set to run between Labor Day and Election Day. The only two advertising markets flush with political ad cash are Philadelphia and Las Vegas, with $127.4 million and $107.6 million, respectively, of political programming scheduled to run in those markets. All three are the largest media markets in key swing states in both the presidential race and the Senate race.
McGrory expressed confidence in Gallego’s standing against Lake. But, she said, “that doesn’t mean we don’t all have our hands on deck and our feet on the gas.”
Lake and Gallego are scheduled to participate in an Oct. 9 debate hosted by Arizona Clean Elections, the state’s traditional administrator of political debates. A new controversy erupted about the discussion with Lake last week By issuing a statement Green Party of Arizona candidate, Eduardo Quintana calls to join the stage. Quintana failed to meet the criteria for automatic inclusion in the debate.
Post Hispanic Caucus-Linked PAC Pours New Advertising Spending into Arizona Senate Race appeared first NBC News.