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FIRST ON FOX: Ahead of former President Trump’s rallies this weekend in the key general election battlegrounds of Arizona and Nevada, a recently formed Trump super PAC is launching ads in crucial midterm races in both states.
The spots by Make America Great Again Inc., which start running on TV Saturday, were shared first with Fox News Friday.
The new ads follow by a day the first commercials released by the super PAC targeting hotly contested Senate races in Ohio and Pennsylvania, where GOP-held open seats are being heavily targeted by the Democrats in November’s midterm elections.
Fox News’ “Hannity” and the Wall Street Journal first reported about the ads.
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The commercial in Arizona takes aim at Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly and Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, the Democrats’ gubernatorial nominee. It supports GOP Senate nominee Blake Masters and gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake. Trump’s endorsements of Masters and Lake in heavily contested Republican primaries were instrumental in boosting them to victories over more mainstream conservative candidates.
“Mark Kelly and Katie Hobbs are with Joe Biden, not you. If they win, Arizona will get more illegal immigration, more inflation and more lost jobs,” the narrator in the spot claims. “Take our country back. Secure Arizona’s future. Vote for Blake Masters and Kari Lake.”
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The commercial running in Nevada takes aim at Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, who is facing a challenge from former state Attorney General Adam Laxalt, the GOP nominee.
“Catherine Cortez Masto votes with Biden nearly 100% of the time, and Nevadans are paying the price,” the narrator in the ad argues before urging viewers to “defeat” her in November’s midterm elections.
MAGA Inc. wouldn’t reveal how much it is spending to run the new commercials. According to AdImpact, a top national ad tracking firm, the buy in Arizona is $1.16 million, and at least $512,000 is being spent in Nevada.
The spending by the pro-Trump super PAC in Arizona and Nevada, as well as in Ohio and Pennsylvania, appears to be the first wave in what’s expected to be millions of dollars in expenditures by the group backing Trump-endorsed candidates running in crucial Senate and gubernatorial contests across the country.
The Senate races in all four states are among a handful that will likely determine if the Republicans win back the chamber’s majority in November.
Nearly two years after his 2020 election defeat, the former president remains the most ferocious fundraiser in the GOP, hauling in both grassroots and top-dollar contributions, and his Save America political action committee is sitting on nearly $100 million cash on hand.
Former President Donald Trump speaks after a panel on policing and security at Treasure Island hotel and casino on July 8, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Trump endorsed Nevada republicans, gubernatorial candidate Joe Lombardo and senate candidate Adam Laxalt. (Photo by Bridget Bennett/Getty Images)
(Photo by Bridget Bennett/Getty Images)
Until now, Trump had transferred little of his fundraising to fellow Republicans running in the midterms or to committees or outside groups backing GOP candidates. That led to grumbling from some Republicans that Trump was hoarding his money at the expense of the party and its candidates that are underfunded in the midterms.
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Until the launch late last month of the new super PAC by some of Trump’s top political advisers, the former president’s main vehicle for helping the Republican candidates he’s endorsed this cycle was through large rallies.
Two more of those rallies are scheduled for this weekend.
Trump will be joined by Laxalt and by GOP gubernatorial nominee Joe Lombardo, the sheriff of Clark County, at a rally in Minden, Nevada Saturday.
On Sunday, Trump will headline a rally in Mesa, Arizona, where he’ll be joined by Lake and Masters.
Former President Trump headlines a rally in support of his GOP-endorsed candidates in Arizona July 22, 2022, in Prescott Valley, Ariz.
(Mario Tama/Getty Images)
While the mission of the new super PAC is to send large sums of financial support to Trump-backed candidates running in key midterm races, MAGA Inc. could pay dividends for Trump should he follow through on his repeated flirtations and run for the White House again in 2024.
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With less than five weeks to go until the midterms, a handful of Trump-endorsed GOP nominees running in high-profile races are locked in tight races with their Democratic rivals. If some of these candidates go down in defeat in November, potentially costing the GOP the chance to win back the Senate majority, some veterans of statewide and presidential campaigns say Trump will get the blame.
That could impact his likely push to win back the White House. MAGA Inc.’s boosting of these candidates may prevent such a scenario.
“President Trump is committed to saving America, and Make America Great Again, Inc. will ensure that is achieved at the ballot box in November and beyond,” said Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich, a veteran of the former president’s 2020 campaign who’s overseeing the new committee.