Devin Nunes’ Democratic opponent takes out first TV ad buy – and doesn’t mention Nunes
Rep. Devin Nunes ‘ Democratic opponent Phil Arballo will start making major TV advertisement buys Tuesday, a week before early voting begins in California.
Arballo, a financial adviser in Fresno, is using the ad to highlight his and his family’s attachment to the district. His wife, Cynthia, narrates the advertisement, saying he “isn’t a career politician or a millionaire. He was raised by a single mom and went to public schools here in Fresno.”
It also features his son, Andres, who goes to Fresno public schools.
Arballo’s campaign managers said they spent six figures on their first TV advertisement of the cycle. Early voting starts Feb. 3 in California and the primary election day is March 3.
Arballo has raised more than $1 million this campaign cycle, according to campaign spokesman Andrew Feldman.
The ad also comes about a week after House Democrats revealed records further implicating Nunes, R-Tulare, in the Ukraine scandal at the center of the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
Derek Harvey, an aide to Nunes, exchanged dozens of text messages with indicted businessman Lev Parnas about efforts to dig up dirt on former Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, according to those records.
That’s six weeks after Democrats released phone records that showed Nunes personally communicated with both Parnas and Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s lawyer who allegedly orchestrated the attempts to get dirt on Biden.
Nunes had previously said he didn’t recall talking with Parnas. But earlier this month, right before the records with his staff member were released, the California congressman acknowledged in an interview with Fox News that he remembered a phone call with Parnas: “It was very odd, random, talked about random things. I said, ‘Great, just talk to my staff.’”
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has taken out ads against Nunes highlighting his connections to the Ukraine scandal. Arballo has done the same in digital ads, but his first television advertisement focuses only on his own background, portraying him as a small-businessman with deep ties to the district.
This story was originally published January 27, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
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