The next time you’re stuck in traffic in a swing state, you may look up and see the smiling faces of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz juxtaposed with scowls from Donald Trump and J.D. Vance.
That’s because the Democratic National Committee is buying 80 billboards in seven electoral battlegrounds, contrasting the two presidential slates to capitalize on what they’re calling “historic momentum” for their party.
The message? Democrats are fighting for you. But Republicans are out for themselves.
“In the final weeks leading up to Election Day, voters across the battlegrounds are tuning into the clear choice before them: a vision for America that prioritizes the needs of working people, that prizes our rights and freedoms, and that helps all communities get ahead, or a dark vision that drags us backwards and puts billionaires ahead of working families,” claims DNC Deputy Communications Director Abhi Rahman.
The DNC notes this is its “first paid advertising blitz since the announcement of the Harris-Walz ticket,” and is highlighted “with a new contrast ad in the middle of the Las Vegas strip,” as new polling shows Harris strong in Nevada.
Per a Nevada Independent survey conducted Aug. 3-5, Harris leads Trump 49% to 44%, with Robert Kennedy Jr. mustering just 4% support.
And in this case, what happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas.
The billboard on the strip is being accompanied by a half dozen similar ones in the Reno area that claim to be “drawing the contrast between Vice President Harris’ bright vision for the future and Donald Trump’s weird campaign of lies and vengeance.”
Not all states will get equal attention. In Arizona, the DNC is putting just two billboards in the Phoenix metro, which may help Democrats capitalize on polling from Highground Public Affairs that suggests Harris has a very narrow lead in the state: 44% to 42%, with 14% on the fence.
Harris visited Phoenix in recent days, promising anti-Israel hecklers that she would push for a ceasefire in that conflict — a message decidedly less likely to make a billboard than the one the Dems are pushing.
Georgians will have a chance to see fourteen billboards across three metros, with four in Atlanta, three in Macon, and seven in Savannah. Polling has been tight in the Peach State, including a recent AARP survey that suggests the road for Donald Trump to do in 2024 what he couldn’t do in 2020 involves mobilizing the 50 plus crowd, since younger voters prefer Harris.
Michiganders will be greeted with a total of thirteen billboards in Detroit and Grand Rapids, all appearing on interstates and federal highways. A New York Times/Siena College poll of likely voters released Saturday shows Harris ahead of Trump there, 48% to 43%, with Kennedy at 4%.
North Carolina voters, meanwhile, will see fifteen signs in the Asheville, Charlotte, and Raleigh metro areas.
The race in the Tar Heel State appears to be a jump ball, according to the latest polling from Carolina Forward and YouGov, which shows a tie at 46%, with Harris taking 94% of Democrats and Trump 91% of Republicans. Trump won North Carolina by roughly 73,000 votes four years ago.
Ten Pennsylvania billboards will be split among Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and Philadelphia, three population centers Democrats hope will offset Trump’s expected dominance in rural areas. The Times/Siena poll shows Harris up 46% to 44% with likely voters, with Kennedy at 4%.
Finally, Wisconsin will see a total of eleven signs in Milwaukee, Green Bay, and Eau Claire, a western city close to the Minnesota border where Harris and Walz campaigned last week.
The Times/Siena poll of likely voters in the Badger State shows Harris out in front 49% to 43%, with Kennedy taking 5%.
