With less than a week to go, campaigns have inundated any state or district with a competitive election with television ads to make their closing argument. This can be especially aggravating, especially after a long day of work where the average voter might just want to watch some mindless reality television or some football.
But in truth, campaigns needs to run ads there to meet voters where they are. This might be why we are seeing more ostentatious ads this election cycle than ever before.
While in her speeches, Vice President Kamala Harris has focused on the danger of Donald Trump’s rhetoric — even going so far as to call him a “petty tyrant” — most of her ads have gone all-in on the economy.
Meanwhile, Republicans, led by Trump, have done a slew of anti-transgender ads, focusing largely on the issue of transgender women in men’s sports.
Elsewhere, Republicans downballot have focused heavily on the US-Mexico border, while Democrats hope the Dobbs effect hasn’t faded and that they can focus heavily on abortion rights.
Here’s The Independent’s breakdown of the best, worst, the most absurd and the downright weirdest ads of 2024 in the final week of the campaign.
Sports and trash talk
Much has been made of Harris’s approach to winning back white male voters who previously voted for the Democratic Party, but have since run into Trump’s arms. Her selection of Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor who once represented a rural district, emphasized this push.
During the Pittsburgh Steelers’ game, her campaign ran an ad that featured a maintenance man by the name of Chris, a purported fan of the Black and Gold.
“Donald Trump does not care about the working man whatsoever,” Chris said in the ad, with “Fight for Your Right” by The Beastie Boys, who notoriously do not license music for ads, playing in the background.
“He’s a little rich kid, too,” Chris continues. “He ain’t me. Little silver spoon boy Donald Trump. How is he relatable to me whatsoever?”
ANOTHER NEW 📺: "He ain't me" – For our friends out west who bleed Black & Yellow and know @KamalaHarris will be a president who fights for yinz.
— Brendan McPhillips (@BrendanMcP) October 28, 2024
Catch it tonight when the Steelers take on Trump's hometown Giants on Monday Night Football.#HereWeGo pic.twitter.com/UJkzgIKpu6
On the other side of Pennsylvania, Harris’s campaign ran an ad featuring Trump saying, “Bad things happen in Philadelphia” before invoking the famous slogan about the City of Brotherly Love from Eagles legend — and Taylor Swift’s potential future brother-in-law — Jason Kelce: “No one likes us. We don’t care.”
NEW 📺 today: Philly vs. Trump: He doesn't like us – We. Don't. Care.
— Brendan McPhillips (@BrendanMcP) October 27, 2024
Catch it during the Eagles game today.
Go Birds. #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/btSZuDtKet
NEW AD >> Yesterday, Donald Trump trashed Detroit, while in Detroit.
— Ammar Moussa (@ammarmufasa) October 11, 2024
Today, we’re making sure Detroiters see EXACTLY what Trump thinks of them. pic.twitter.com/rsVNMhhcRo
“We’re Philly: F**kin’ Philly, and when you fight us, we fight back,” the ad says, before showing clips of Rocky Balboa.
In Detroit, Harris campaign invoked Trump saying, “Our whole country will end up being like Detroit,” before the narrator states “that he should be so goddamn lucky.”
In Milwaukee, Harris recruited Bucks head coach Doc Rivers to narrate an ad pushing back on Trump calling Milwaukee a “horrible city.” Not unlike the Democrats with Harris, the Bucks changed their coach mid-season last year to bring in the NBA championship-winning coach.
Trump — and Republicans — zero in on trans people
During his sole debate with Harris, Trump infamously claimed: “She wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison.”
Republicans have gone all-in on attacking Democrats when it comes to transgender people, not just on providing gender-affirming care for people in prison, but also when it comes to allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports.
In one ad, the Trump campaign highlights Charlamagne Tha God, who recently interviewed Harris, saying, “Kamala supports taxpayer-funded sex changes for prisoners,” before adding: “Hell no, I don’t want my taxpayer dollars going to that.”
The ad continues by claiming: “Kamala even supports letting biological men compete against our girls.” It ends by saying “Kamala is for They/Them” while “President Trump is for you.”
But Trump is not the only candidate to run anti-trans ads. Senator Ted Cruz, who is in a surprisingly difficult fight for re-election in Texas, has gone all-in on an ad saying his opponent, Democratic Representative Colin Allred, voted to allow “boys in girls’ sports.”
Despite the avalanche of anti-trans ads on the Republican side, there is little evidence that anti-trans ads move the needle — and if anything, voters deeply dislike them.
Democrats bring up abortion
My opponent is lying about his record to try to win an election, but we know the truth: he’s been trying to ban abortion for the past decade.
— Jacky Rosen (@RosenforNevada) October 22, 2024
Watch my latest ad, and visit https://t.co/xdhzjqpE9q to get the facts: pic.twitter.com/FzmCiNHjrx
In 2022, Democrats staved off a red wave because of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v Jackson decision that overturned Roe v Wade and put abortion rights in peril. Democrats hope that focusing heavily on abortion rights will save their Senate majority and help them flip the House of Representatives.
In Nevada, Senator Jacky Rosen, who is running far ahead of Republican Sam Brown, accuses him of backpedaling on his previous hardline stance on abortion.
Wisconsin Republicans' extreme abortion ban forced Meagan to leave the state to get the care she needed.
— Tammy Baldwin (@tammybaldwin) September 17, 2024
Eric Hovde pushed to end Roe v. Wade—and in the Senate, he’d help Republicans ban abortion nationwide.
WATCH: pic.twitter.com/AXGUzBndFw
In Wisconsin, Senator Tammy Baldwin, who is running neck-and-neck with Republican Eric Hovde, has emphasized the story of a woman who left Wisconsin to receive an abortion after she found out her baby would have fetal abnormalities.
Dan Osborn tries to hug Trump on the border
🚨 NEW AD ALERT 🚨
— Dan Osborn, Independent for Senate (@OsbornForSenate) October 18, 2024
The most Nebraskans have seen Deb Fischer in years is on TV lying about me.
Sick of the attacks? So am I.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/YcE91aXEpI
Perhaps the biggest wildcard this year has been Dan Osborn, an independent who is running neck-and-neck with Deb Fischer, the two-term Republican Senator from Nebraska. While Democrats would love to see Fischer lose, it’s not clear how Osborn would vote or if he would even caucus with them.
He’s focused heavily on unions in his ads. But he’s also creating distance from Republicans, particuarly by showing his hawkish attitude on one of the biggest hobby horses of the GOP: the US-Mexico border.
Indeed, in one ad, he even features himself with a blowtorch saying: “If Trump needs help building the wall, well, I'm pretty handy.”
