President Trump is bringing his A-game to a national stage — kicking off the first-ever presidential Super Bowl ads to air before a nationwide audience during Sunday’s big game.
The first ad, released Thursday by the campaign, touts economic prosperity under the Trump administration as a key selling point for the president’s re-election. It references the record-low unemployment rate hit last May after 49 years, and historically low unemployment rates for African Americans and Hispanics.
“America demanded change, and change is what we got,” a narrator says.
The 30-second spot, titled “Stronger, Safer, More Prosperous,” is loaded with military and patriotic imagery.
At the end, Trump promises, “The best is yet to come.”
Trump’s team said they’re making history by being the first presidential campaign to pay the steep price to run national advertisements during the Super Bowl. A 30-second spot during this year’s came with a $5 million price tag.
And Trump’s ads will be matched by a dueling clip from another billionaire presidential hopeful — former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Democrat who has reportedly spent more than $100 million on advertising to boost his late-stage bid.
While Trump plays up his economic successes, Bloomberg’s campaign is casting the spotlight on Calandrian Simpson Kemp, a Texas mother who lost her son to gun violence. Kemp, of the gun control advocacy organization Moms Demand Action, praises Bloomberg for taking on the gun lobby during the 60-second spot.
“People will be rooting for different teams in the Super Bowl, but virtually all Americans — including people in both parties and a majority of gun owners — support universal background checks and other common sense gun laws,” Bloomberg said in a statement.
Republican strategist Ryan Williams said the politicizing of an American pastime comes from “two big personalities who like big things and have big checkbooks in this race. Trump and Bloomberg — it’s on-brand for both of them to go big and place an ad during the biggest television event of the year.”
Each candidate is focusing on his own signature issue. Trump’s ad “will fire up his base,” Williams said, while Bloomberg is trying to “appeal to whatever liberals tune in to watch the game. He’s not trying to reach your average football fan, he’s trying to reach any Democratic voter who’s watching.”
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