RIPON, Wis. — Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is launching two new digital ads in battleground states featuring a past supporter of former President Donald Trump on the same day that the Democratic nominee is set to campaign in Wisconsin alongside Republican former Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, according to a campaign official who shared the ads exclusively with NBC News.
The 30-second ads feature Matt McCaffery, a lifelong Republican who voted for Trump in the past, explaining that he is supporting Harris because he believes the former president will hurt the middle class and is not taking responsibility for past mistakes.
The videos are part of a seven-figure paid media strategy aimed at critical swing voters and a larger effort by the Harris campaign to court Republicans and former Trump supporters. The campaign has also hired strategists to focus specifically on conservative voters, held events to engage Republican voters in battleground states, launched Republicans for Harris to help organize grassroots programs, and rolled out endorsements from prominent Republicans.
McCaffery, who lives in Pennsylvania, embodies the type of voter the Harris campaign hopes will back her as polls show the race remains close.
In one ad, titled, “Matt McCaffery,” he explains why he is abandoning Trump and supporting Harris. “I believe in small government, low taxes and stay out of my life,” he said. “I am a Republican. I voted for Donald Trump and I went to his inauguration in 2016. We tried it for four years. It just didn’t work.”
McCaffery attacks wealthy Trump supporters and explains his support of Harris as images of her and running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, appear. “All these billionaires are coming out of the woodwork to support Trump,” he said. “They want their tax breaks on the backs of the middle class. What I am looking for in a president is people like Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. I think she’s going to do a great job for people like me.”
In the second ad titled, “Who does that?,” McCaffery criticizes Trump for not taking responsibility for his actions. “Like I can’t go to work and mess up something and then blame my staff. Like who does that? Well, who does that? Donald Trump does that,” McCaffery said in the ad.
He goes on to explain his reasoning. “It’s time to move on,” McCaffery said. “It’s going to be more of the same and the middle class is going to suffer. Take it from me. I’m a lifelong Republican. I am still a Republican. Kamala is trying to help the American people, especially the American middle class.”
The Harris campaign plans to spend $370 million on paid media between Labor Day and Election Day, including $200 million for digital and streaming advertising.
The campaign also recently hired Maria Comella to focus specifically on Republican and independent women voters in the final stretch of the campaign. Comella, who worked for Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, joins Austin Weatherford, the Harris campaign’s national Republican engagement director, who previously worked for former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican.
This week, the Harris campaign will also be holding Republican voter outreach events in the battleground states across the country. That comes after the campaign launched Republicans for Harris in August and after dozens of notable Republicans, including Cheney and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, endorsed Harris.
The Harris campaign also featured a number of Republican speakers at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, including Kinzinger, Olivia Troye, a former Trump White House national security official, and Stephanie Grisham, who worked as a White House press secretary for Trump.
