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Gun control advocacy groups are taking to the airwaves in crucial Senate races ahead of November's midterm elections.
In Colorado, Giffords PAC, a group affiliated with former Rep. Gabby Giffords, who was the victim of gun violence while she was a member of Congress in 2011, is up with a new ad in the state's U.S. Senate race.
The ad attacks Republican nominee Joe O'Dea for allegedly supporting the gun lobby.
The narrator in the ad says, "Here in Colorado, we've felt the pain of gun violence so many times, but Joe O'Dea sides with the gun lobby, not us."
So far, Giffords PAC has spent over $360,000 on the airwaves in that state's Senate race, but they have an additional $2 million worth of airtime booked through Election Day.
In Wisconsin, Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund, a group backed by billionaire Michael Bloomberg, is spending $1 million to run a new ad attacking GOP Sen. Ron Johnson for his position on guns.
"Mass shootings, school shootings and violent crime are on the rise and Ron Johnson is making things worse," a narrator in the ad says.
Guns haven't been a focal point of Senate campaigns this year, especially relative to the amount of airtime spent talking about inflation and abortion. But in Colorado and Wisconsin, residents have felt the impact of gun violence multiple times in recent years.
Colorado has been the site of multiple mass shootings, including one at a movie theater in Aurora, the Columbine High School shooting and a supermarket shooting in Boulder just last year.
And in Wisconsin, prolific shooting events, like one during protests against police in Kenosha, have centered gun violence as an issue.
