Kamala Harris on Thursday became the first major Democratic presidential candidate to hit the airwaves in Iowa, releasing a new commercial introducing herself to the early-voting state while weaving in a message framed around her kitchen-table agenda.
Harris’ 60-second ad comes amid a rush of activity in the state.
The California senator is in the midst of a five-day bus tour across the state, which includes stops at the state fair and a party fundraising dinner attended by most of the presidential field.A Harris campaign official said the ad buy will be in the high six figures, and that they expected it to run for several weeks.
This year’s massive candidate field seems to have led the leading campaigns to slow-play their paid media. In 2007, then-candidate Barack Obama began airing a pair of introductory ads in Iowa in June. By that point, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut were already up on the air in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Before Harris, only lower-polling Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, former Rep. John Delaney of Maryland and billionaire activist Tom Steyer had gone up in Iowa.
Harris’ summertime buy — six months before the state’s caucuses and while rates are far cheaper than they’ll become — could give her some time alone on TV ahead of the other major campaigns.
In the ad, Harris talks briefly about her late mother’s early support raising she and her sister Maya, currently the campaign chair. She also touts her pocketbook agenda, centered on proposals to address issues that she’s says keep people up at 3 a.
m., including a middle-class tax cut and “Medicare for All” plan and equal pay for women, and says her focus will be on immediate priorities.“Real relief for families like yours. Not in 20 years. Not in 30,” she says. “Starting my first day as president.”
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine