Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s affiliated super PAC announced the second phase of its advertising blitz Thursday, with plans to spend $9.25 million introducing Walker to voters in New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.
That comes on top of the $7 million that the group — Unintimidated PAC — has already dedicated to Iowa, a state Walker supporters have said is absolutely critical to their candidate.
The PAC plans to spend a whopping $8 million in South Carolina, going on air Nov. 7 and running through that state’s primary, Feb. 20.
Smaller buys of $725,000 and $400,000 are planned for New Hampshire and Nevada, respectively, to run in the week before each state’s decision day.
The money is going, in part, into the first ad from Walker’s super PAC, introducing him to voters and laying out his core message: that he not only fights, but wins key battles for conservatives. The spot opens with footage of thousands of union protesters at the Wisconsin statehouse, pushing their way past police and screaming.
It’s the central battle which put Walker on the national stage and one that supporters have said he needs to focus on in the long run.
“Time after time Scott Walker fights, and wins,” the narrator says in the one-minute ad.
Walker’s super PAC and campaign are barred, by law, from coordinating with each other.
Walker struggled through August, following a flat debate performance, a slide in the polls and a series of gaffes and unclear stances on issues like “birthright citizenship” and talk of a Canadian border wall.
But Walker’s team of supporters — on the campaign side and PAC side — have taken a long-view much like other candidates toiling in the shadow of front-runner Donald Trump: focus on the marathon through the primaries, not the sprint this summer.
