With only two weeks to go until polls close on Nov. 3, the barrage of TV, radio, newspaper and social media ads is relentless in the final stretch, particularly when Iowa has a hotly contested race that plays a significant role in which party will control the Senate next year.
Behind North Carolina, Iowa is the second-most expensive U.S. Senate race this cycle. A Des Moines Register analysis shows, as of Oct. 13, more than $151 million has been spent or reserved on TV to boost Sen. Joni Ernst and Theresa Greenfield. Of that, The Register reported, $113 million is being spent by political parties and issue groups. Across all federal races, spending has topped $208 million.
This article takes a look at some of the recent ads outside groups are putting in front of Iowans. (To see what a week’s worth of political mailers looks like here, check out this subreddit post.)
Brady PAC, Women Vote!
A gun violence prevention group has teamed up with Women Vote!, the independent expenditure arm of EMILY’s List, to target rural Iowans with an ad about Ernst’s willingness to discuss Social Security reform “behind closed doors.”
The ad accuses Ernst of supporting the privatization of Social Security, while praising Greenfield for not accepting corporate PAC donations.
“That’s why we can trust Greenfield to protect our Social Security,” the narrator says.
With a focus on reaching women, the TV ad also will air digitally on iHeart Radio, Pandora, Facebook, YouTube and Google’s ad platform.
The ads are part of a “nearly $1 million TV and digital ad campaign in Iowa in an effort to defeat Joni Ernst.”
