With six weeks to go until the August primary, Democratic Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow released her first TV ad of the cycle Tuesday, promising to “stand up to Trump,” to big tech and “make this country work for the rest of us.”
“They said, ‘You can’t flip this district, you can’t take back the Senate, you can’t beat the extremists,’ ” McMorrow says in the ad’s voiceover. “When they said we couldn’t, we did and together we will.”
McMorrow released the 30-second spot Tuesday, the same week that absentee ballots are set to be mailed to voters. Her campaign said it’s airing the ad in the Detroit market with an initial buy of $400,000, though it’s unclear how long it will be running.
McMorrow, a state senator from Royal Oak, said she wanted to remind voters of “the good work that we’ve gotten done together when we organize, we fight, we take on tough races and win them.”
McMorrow is seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate and is locked in a contentious primary fight against U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens of Birmingham and podcaster and former public health official Abdul El-Sayed of Ann Arbor. The winner of the Aug. 4 contest is expected to take on Republican Mike Rogers in November to determine who fills the seat of retiring Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township.
McMorrow described Stevens as the “status quo” candidate who hasn’t gone up on the air yet, while El-Sayed is promising a lot but hasn’t ever won an election.
“It feels like people are really just starting to tune into this race,” McMorrow said.
“Once we’re able to have the conversation to say, exactly the point, that there are no shortcuts ― I know how to fight, I know how to win, I know how to build coalitions and actually get things done, and that is somebody we need not only to send to the U.S. Senate but to beat Mike Rogers to get there,” she said.
El-Sayed last week became the first Michigan Senate candidate to go on the air with a TV ad, touting his Michigan roots, biography and endorsements by the United Auto Workers union and progressive icon Bernie Sanders.
The Michigan contest is expected to be among the most expensive and closely watched races of the midterm elections this year.
mburke@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: McMorrow releases first TV ad for Michigan Senate bid
Reporting by Melissa Nann Burke, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Melissa Nann Burke, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
