A flood of political ads is hitting the air in this California district. Who’s paying for them?
If you’re living south of Fresno, in California’s 21st congressional district, prepare for a flood of political advertisements.
Political strategists have known for months that the race between Rep. TJ Cox, D-Fresno, and former Rep. David Valadao, a Republican from Hanford, would be one of the biggest battlegrounds in the country.
It’s a target for the GOP because Cox won it by fewer than 1,000 votes in 2018, unseating Republican Valadao. With Valadao on the ballot again, Republicans think they have a candidate who is well known in the district.
Now, with a little over two months until Election Day, spending on political ads has gone through the roof. Both sides are spending millions of dollars, with money flowing from candidate campaigns and outside political groups.
The latest ad buy was $775,000 spent by the House Majority PAC, a Democratic group focused on defeating Republicans to gain or keep Democratic House seats.
That’s just the latest in about $7.6 million in advertising spending in the district, just from outside political groups.
The most recently announced ad, which aims to tie Valadao to President Donald Trump, is expected to air both on TV and online and in both English and Spanish. Trump is unpopular in the district — 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton won it by 16 points over Trump.
“Voters in the 21st district fired David Valadao in 2018 because he prioritized the needs of Donald Trump over the needs of his constituents,” House Majority PAC Executive Director Abby Curran Horrell said in a statement exclusive to McClatchy. “This year, we can’t afford to send him back to Congress.”
The group announced the new ad the day after Cox’s campaign declared it was buying some ad time of its own. That ad hits on similar themes, calling Valadao a “yes man” for Trump. A spokesman for the campaign declined to specify how much it’s spending on the ad.
Valadao’s campaign also released an ad earlier this month, portraying him as someone who worked across the aisle with former President Barack Obama. Valadao’s campaign declined to specify how much they spent to air the ad, but it’s appearing on both TV and digitally.
That’s on top of nearly $3 million the National Republican Congressional Committee, the fundraising arm of House Republicans, announced in June it was putting into the Fresno and Bakersfield markets.
The Congressional Leadership Fund, another Republican committee, previously announced $2 million in ad buys in the district.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the fundraising arm of House Democrats, also purchased $830,000 worth of ad space in the district last week. House Majority PAC, in addition to the $775,000, has already invested in just over $1 million in ad space.
This story was originally published August 26, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
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