Rhode Island Rep. Patricia Morgan, a West Warwick Republican looking to unseat U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, appears under the Washington Bridge in her latest campaign ad spot. (Screenshot/Patricia Morgan for U.S. Senate)
Traffic jams and road closure signs flash on the screen before Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Patrica Morgan appears in front of a chain link fence underneath the shuttered westbound Washington Bridge.
“When Baltimore’s bridge collapsed, Maryland’s senators had a promise for full funding within hours,” Morgan said. “After 10 months, Sheldon Whitehouse has only gotten one third of what the Washington Bridge needs.”
The 30-second ad launched Wednesday, two days after her campaign spent $9,000 on a billboard with her smiling face next to the words “CLOSE THE BORDER” on Interstate 95 near Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport. The commercial and billboard comprise Morgan’s first ad blitz since last spring in her bid to unseat Rhode Island’s three-term junior U.S. senator with just three weeks left before the Nov. 5 general election.
Also this week, Democratic U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner aired his first 30-second spot of the general election season. Magaziner’s re-election campaign for the 2nd Congressional District purchased 167 ad spots from Oct. 8 through 14 for $46,115, according to filings made with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
The ad focuses on Magaziner’s record in Congress “taking on the special interests to help working people” over shots of him speaking to constituents, along with stock shots of gas pumps and board rooms.
“Public officials should serve the people, not themselves,” Magaziner said.
Name recognition remains a challenge for Morgan’s U.S. Senate bid
The cost of Morgan’s new ad was not yet public as of Wednesday. Federal law requires television stations to upload purchase forms indicating how much ads cost and how long they run within one business day of receiving a request from a campaign or super PACs.
Morgan’s campaign spent $25,127 on a commercial introducing herself that aired 447 times on cable last April, according to FCC filings.
Morgan’s criticism of the state receiving only $125.4 million in federal grant money of the $221 million requested to rebuild the Westbound Washington Bridge in her attack ad against Whitehouse. The other: skewering his support for offshore wind.
Morgan blamed the lack of full Washington Bridge funding on Whitehouse who was “too busy funneling cash to his wife’s climate company and spending over a trillion dollars on offshore wind.”
“This is my promise: I’ll fight for the Ocean State and I’ll work to stop the industrialization of our oceans.”
Whitehouse campaign coordinator Laura Fusco did not immediately respond to request for comment on Morgan’s 30-second spot.
Democratic U.S. Rep Seth Magaziner speaks to voters in a new ad for his re-election campaign. (Screenshot/Magaziner for Congress)
How war chests compare
Morgan’s ad comes a little more than two weeks after a Rhode Island Current poll found more than a third of likely voters don’t know who she is. The survey of 800 likely voters shows Whitehouse leading Morgan 52% to 37%.
Whitehouse also leads Morgan — and really any Rhode Island politician — in campaign contributions. During the most recent reporting period last August, Whitehouse’s campaign had more than $3.6 million on hand. Morgan reported around $144,000. The next campaign filing deadline is Oct. 15 — the final day for Rhode Island voters to request their mail-in ballots and one day before early voting kicks off.
And with such a war chest, Whitehouse has dominated Rhode Island’s airwaves — purchasing more than $732,000 worth of ad time since the summer, according to FCC data.
Along with duking it out through paid advertising, the two U.S. Senate candidates will face off for their first and only scheduled debate on WPRI-12 on Friday, Oct. 18. The debate will air at 7 p.m.
Magaziner campaign spokesperson Katherine Riordan declined to say if there are plans to run additional ads after Monday.
“We do not disclose our spending plans, but we plan to invest enough to ensure that voters are aware of Congressman Magaziner’s efforts to fight for working Rhode Islanders,” Riordan said.
Magaziner’s Republican challenger, Steven Corvi, has not made any ad purchases. And it appears unlikely based on his most recent FEC filings, as Corvi failed to raise or spend more than the $5,000 minimum requiring a quarterly campaign finance report.
Magaziner sat atop more than a $994,000 cash pile as of August.
Corvi did not immediately respond to request for comment Wednesday.
Neither 1st Congressional District Rep. Gabe Amo, whose campaign had $776,000 on hand as of August, nor Republican challenger Allen Waters, who had $4,300 in his campaign account, have purchased ads.
The general election will be held on Nov. 5. Early voting starts Oct. 16
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