Good stuff from VoteVets:
RELEASE: VoteVets Announces Additional Investment of Over $1.1 Million in New Jersey and Virginia Races in Final Weeks of Campaign
Ads engage swing voters other organizations can’t reach as campaigns head into the home stretch
Washington, DC. – VoteVets and VoteVets Action Fund today announced major ad buys in the Virginia and New Jersey Governors races as voters decide if veterans and national security candidates are the ones to lead the future.
Last cycle alone, VoteVets spent $50 million helping to elect VoteVets-endorsed candidates. Our investments proved to be effective in helping candidates get across the finish line and we were able to see a success rate at a time when other Democrats were not as successful. Thanks in part to our investments, 143 VoteVets-endorsed candidates clinched victory amidst a global rightward lurch including Senators Gallego (AZ) and Slotkin (MI), and Congressman Derek Tran (CA). VoteVets was an early supporter of both Spanberger and Sherrill when they ran for and flipped Congressional House Districts in 2018, instantly becoming rising stars in the Democratic Party.
VoteVets is announcing an initial major investment in the New Jersey gubernatorial race with a $500,000 statewide ad campaign, backing a long time friend and endorsed candidate Mikkie Sherrill, a Navy pilot. In addition, VoteVets Action Fund is transferring $79,000 to the Democratic Party of New Jersey, the first time in the history of VoteVets that it is making a direct contribution to a state party’s coordinated campaign efforts.
Additionally, VoteVets Action Fund brings its total investment in the Virginia gubernatorial race to $1.5 million, with another $500,000 media buy that runs statewide. And, VoteVets is making its first investment to help win a key, Red to Blue state house district, HD-64, with a $100,000 cable ad campaign.
These ads feature Veterans speaking straight to camera about the stakes in the elections, focused on the rising cost of living and higher taxes on working families that Republicans promised but failed to fix, appealing to white male swing voters under 45 who swung away from Democrats last cycle. Ads will run statewide on streaming, OTT and connected-TV platforms in both states, along with live sports programming on cable systems in key markets. Ads will also run statewide on YouTube and Spotify. In New Jersey, additional targeting will be done statewide on streaming and digital, and in Virginia, additional statewide cable targeting will occur on sports-focused channels (e.g. ESPN). This new wave of ads are launching today and will run for two weeks.
The Virginia gubernatorial ads follow an earlier $500k ad campaign from VoteVets Action Fund, along with a significant direct investment of $500k that VoteVets PAC made to the Spanberger campaign earlier this cycle – a historic figure. Spanberger has been a consistent VoteVets endorsed candidate throughout her political campaigns and policy ally.
WATCH:
NJ GOV: https://youtu.be/wLqnPKobI_Q?
VA GOV: https://youtu.be/nWV_Tjk_ho0
VH HD-64: https://youtu.be/qw1oPVl2Vh4
NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR AD (“HIGH TAX JACK”) TRANSCRIPT:
Coast Guard Veteran: “After a decade of coast guard rescues, I came home to make a go of it. But Jersey is so damn expensive right now. And Jack Ciatterelli will make it worse. He already voted to raise property taxes and was even talking about a 10 percent sales tax.”
Ciatterelli quote on screen: “A ten percent tax on everything including food and clothing”
Coast Guard Veteran: “You know who’s never tried to raise those taxes? Ass-kicking Navy pilot Mikie Sherrill. (bleep over “ass”) I know who to trust to fix this mess. It ain’t a bootlicking politician like High Tax Jack.”
VIRGINIA GOVERNOR AD (“TOO WEAK”) TRANSCRIPT:
Navy Veteran: “As a retired Navy Chief, I know a strong leader when I see one. This ain’t it.
Clip of Winsome Earl Sears on screen with Trump referencing the Trump Budget: “The bill as you know does so many great things.”
Navy Veteran: “Instead of fighting for Virginia, Winsome Earle Seals went right along with the Trump budget that’s raising our costs even higher…Healthcare. Housing. Electricity. And those tariffs, driving up prices on just about everything else.”
Clip of Winsome Earl Sears speaking: “Tariffs can hurt. And I think that’s good.”
Navy Veteran: “No. Winsome Earl Sears is way too weak for Virginia.”
VA HD-64 AD (“BURDEN) TRANSCRIPT:
US Army 100% disabled Veteran: “I went to war in Afghanistan. Came home with disabilities. Got a job and worked my way back. But Paul Milde thinks veterans like me are a burden.
Clip of Paul Milde: “When they were hiking taxes -”
US Army 100% disabled Veteran: “Milde called disabled veterans a…”
Clip of Paul Milde: “Another hole in our budget”
US Army 100% disabled Veteran: “Milde even voted to hike tuition on kids of servicemembers who were killed in action. Who does that? Paul Milde insults everything we fought for. He sure doesn’t get our votes.”
