Trump campaign returns to airwaves in Michigan

President Trump’s reelection campaign is back on the airwaves in the key swing state of Michigan after taking down its ads there earlier this summer.

Tracking firm Advertising Analytics confirmed to The Hill that the campaign put up ads on the air on Tuesday for the first time since mid-July, reserving $1.2 million in television and radio time in the state through Monday and another $4 million there through the end of September. 

Three different ads that have been airing this week take distinctly different tones, ranging from praising the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus to casting Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is in thrall to the far left to saying Biden will not address the riots and unrest across the country. 

“In the race for a vaccine, the finish line is approaching, safety protocols in place, and the greatest economy the world has ever seen coming back to life. But Joe Biden wants to change that,” says a narrator in one ad. “Why would we ever let Biden kill countless American businesses, jobs and our economic future when President Trump’s great American comeback is now underway?”

A second ad claims that “the radical left has taken over Joe Biden and the Democratic Party,” and a third says Democrats’ calls to defund the police make riots worse, though Biden has disavowed the stance.

The new Michigan ads mark a step in the Trump campaign reasserting itself on the air in key swing states after lagging behind Biden in a number of national and battleground polls for weeks.

The former vice president’s campaign has rolled out $86.4 million in ads in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin from July 28 through Sept. 7, compared with just $17.3 million spent by Trump over the same period.

The president’s campaign also remains off the air in the crucial state of Pennsylvania and this week pushed back its fall ad buys there and in Arizona, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and Ohio. 

The campaign has also faced a fundraising crunch after heavy spending on ads and other strategies earlier this year. While it once had a yawning fundraising gap, it may have been overtaken in August after raising more than $210 million compared to over $365 million for Biden.

Still, Trump has remained competitive in the air wars with ad blitzes from key outside groups, including America First Action, which is rolling out roughly $40 million in ads.