Kari Lake takes to TV with ad hitting Joe Biden, Ruben Gallego over border

U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake and Senate Republicans began airing a TV ad on Monday citing an “invasion” on the border enabled by President Joe Biden and her Democratic challenger Ruben Gallego.

Much of the 30-second ad, titled “Big Differences,” features people in a room with Lake outlining their worries over the border and their complaints about Biden.

Only in the final 10 seconds does Lake blame Gallego, claiming he “supports sanctuary cities, allowing illegals to vote and he’s opposed to the border wall.”

“Those are big differences,” Lake tells viewers, looking straight into the camera.

The ad buy, estimated at $136,000 by the media-tracking firm AdImpact, is slated to run on broadcast and cable TV, as well as digital platforms. But it also points to significant spending disparities in Arizona’s U.S. Senate campaigns.

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Each of the three prominent candidates in the race had divergent financial positions entering April, and there are signs that Lake will face the type of limited support from GOP sources that Blake Masters, Arizona’s 2022 U.S. Senate nominee, saw in his failed bid to oust U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.

“Radical Ruben Gallego won’t be able to hide from his Far-Left policies, voting record, and unwavering support of the Biden agenda that has caused the humanitarian, national security, and fentanyl crisis that Arizonans are facing every day,” Lake said in a written statement from her campaign.

“As Arizona’s next U.S. Senator, Kari Lake will make it her #1 priority to secure our border and make our neighborhoods, our streets, and our state safe again.”

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Gallego’s campaign slammed the ad and alluded to his support for a bipartisan border security bill earlier this year that Lake quickly rejected.

“Kari Lake is a power-hungry liar who will do or say anything to gain power ― even join national Republicans in launching desperate, false attacks on Ruben’s record,” said Hannah Goss, a spokeswoman for the Gallego campaign.

“Ruben is laser-focused on bringing people together to address the border crisis ― even when it means pushing back on his own party to stand up for Arizonans ― which is exactly why he will defeat Kari Lake this November.”

It is the first burst of broadcast spending by Lake since a small January ad and is evenly paid for by the National Republican Senatorial Committee as part of at least $10 million in planned spending through the fall.

It comes after Gallego has hit the airwaves with millions in spending since March discussing his background as a Marine and member of Congress.

On Monday, Gallego’s campaign reserved $19 million in the fall, the largest sum of any of the Senate candidate this year, the New York Times wrote, citing figures from AdImpact.

Lake and Gallego, as well as Republican Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, are all running for the Senate seat being vacated by U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz.

All three candidates had widely different financial situations entering April, the latest campaign financial records show.

Gallego entered April with $9.6 million in cash. Shortly after Sinema announced in early March that she would not seek a second term, Gallego picked up the support of Kelly, who is one of the most prolific fundraisers in the Senate.

Lake entered April with $2.5 million and $452,000 in debt. She has the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, the NRSC and most Senate Republicans. In April, she held a fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort reported to raise $1 million, though the breakdown of how much went directly to her campaign won’t be known until her next report in July.

Lamb entered April with $254,000 and $117,000 in debt, a hand-to-mouth status that has made television advertising an impossibility to this point.

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Apart from the campaigns, allies of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have continued to keep Lake’s campaign in a financial freeze.

The McConnell-aligned One Nation has committed $70 million to five Senate races across the country, as well as Montana, where it was already spending, Politico reported Monday. Arizona is not on the list.

Instead, One Nation is spending in Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

McConnell’s top priorities have consistently been winning Democrat-held seats in West Virginia, Montana and Ohio. The exclusion of Arizona in a list with Nevada and Wisconsin suggests McConnell sees the state as not even a second-tier contender for the GOP at the moment.

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