9/3 UPDATE: The super PAC swapped in an ad that touts the Boston Globe’s editorial board endorsing Campbell. The ad is available here.
The super PAC supporting Andrea Campbell’s mayoral campaign unveiled its third ad, which is hitting broadcast TV and digital screens in a six-figure advertising buy ahead of the Sept. 14 preliminary. The outside group, known as “Better Boston,” is spending $180,000 on the buy.
The ad, titled “She’s Ready,” says Campbell is “listening” and “leading” with “plans to tackle the top issues in 100 days.”
The ad’s narrator says Campbell has “taken on the insiders and beat them, and she can do it again” as a headline flashes across the screen, touting her 2015 campaign for City Council. In that race, she toppled 32-year incumbent Charles Yancey in the race for District 4 (Dorchester and Mattapan). Yancey recently endorsed Acting Mayor Kim Janey, one of Campbell’s opponents in the mayoral race.
The ad is available here.
“She is the only candidate with the experience, the tenacity, and—most importantly—the real plans necessary to tackle the numerous challenges we face as a city,” Sonia Alleyne, chair of the “Better Boston” super PAC, said in a statement.
“Our committee was the first to launch advertising on broadcast television earlier this summer, and we’re proud to be able to continue telling Andrea’s story as early voting begins and Election Day on September 14 approaches,” Alleyne added.
According to the most recently available campaign finance filings, the super PAC has raised $1.2 million and spent just under $1 million. The numbers do not include the ad announced Wednesday.
Super PACs can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money, but they cannot coordinate with the campaigns they support.
In a memo obtained by the Reporter last week, a Campbell supporter said many voters remain undecided and the four women of color in the race, including Campbell, have “plausible paths” to winning the preliminary. The Sept. 14 election will determine the two finalists who will face off on Nov. 2.
The memo, authored by 2013 mayoral candidate John Connolly, said super PACs, paid advertising, and debates on Sept. 8 and Sept. 9 are among the things that will affect voters’ choices.
Super PACs supporting Acting Mayor Janey and City Councillor At-Large Michelle Wu have also taken to the airwaves. A super PAC tied to UNITE HERE Local 26, the hospitality workers union, has released an ad touting Janey. A pro- Wu outside group led by Jason Burrell, a former aide to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, launched its own ad.
While Janey and Wu have other super PACs supporting them, those groups have mostly focused on canvassing and mailings as part of their efforts to reach voters.
Super PACs supporting former city economic development official John Barros and City Councillor At-Large Annissa Essaibi George have formed but remained quiet so far.
In the weeks leading up to the preliminary, all of the mayoral campaigns have released their own ads.
