Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign on Tuesday announced an early-state ad campaign of at least $10 million, suggesting that the Massachusetts senator is continuing to raise big money from grass-roots donors after an anemic start.
The campaign told POLITICO that a digital ad campaign would begin immediately and that the entire buy will ramp up over the next few months.
The campaign declined to say when its spending on digital and TV ads would reach eight figures.“Right now, our biggest expense as a campaign is our staff, but as the campaign heats up, it will be on media to reach potential voters," campaign manager Roger Lau wrote in a memo emailed to supporters Tuesday morning. The campaign "will be more digital than old-school broadcast television.”
The campaign also released three ads Tuesday — 15-second, 30-second, and 1-minute spots — which highlight Warren’s policy plans and her intention to crack down on corruption in government.
The shorter ads both end with: “I’m Elizabeth Warren. I know what’s wrong. I know how to fix it. And I’ll fight to get it done.” The longest one finishes with footage from Warren’s recent rally in New York City and concludes with her saying, “It’s corruption: pure and simple. We must root it out and return our democracy to the people. And yes, I got a plan for that.”
Lau echoed that message in his memo, writing, "We've released dozens of plans in the past seven months, but they're really one big, simple plan: to break the stranglehold of corruption on Washington and put political and economic power in the hands of the people, where it belongs.
”The ad campaign will be a test of Warren’s in-house production team, which she adopted instead of the usual consultant and media-buying campaign model. Warren's aides said all three ads were produced inside the campaign.
“We have built an in-house staff to produce videos and ads rather than adopt the consultant-driven approach of other campaigns (and the big commissions and fees that come along with it),” Lau wrote.
Warren is one of several candidates who have recently announced at least part of their strategy for the final months before the Iowa caucus next February.
Sen. Kamala Harris’s campaign told reporters earlier this month that she is going all-in on Iowa, doubling their state staff and planning weekly visits. Sen. Cory Booker’s campaign manager announced the campaign was in dire financial straits and would potentially withdraw from the race unless it could raise $1.7 million in the last 10 days of the third quarter.
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign also held a background briefing with reporters earlier this month in which they downplayed expectations in the early contests of Iowa and New Hampshire. The memos and briefings also come in the final weeks of the third fundraising quarter.
It was the second time this year that Lau has publicly outlined his approach to the race. The Warren campaign sent a memo near the end of the first fundraising quarter when several other candidates significantly outraised Warren’s underwhelming $6 million. The memo played down expectations by casting the campaign as an “underdog,” and took direct aim at some of the punditry narratives surrounding Warren’s electability.
“Neither President Barack Obama nor President Donald Trump fit the idea of ‘electability,’” Lau wrote. “Elections are not won by nominees chosen to appeal to or pacify the other side: elections are won by candidates who inspire their party’s voters to turn out on Election Day and who have an effective organization to drive it home. ... Electability requires boldness.”
The memo highlighted Warren's tactical choices, such as investing early in organizers and integrating its data and tech teams in-house. Both moves have been praised by Democratic activists in early states and some digital organizers.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine