Cunningham invokes military service, health care issues in first television ad
In his first campaign television ad, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Cal Cunningham called corruption in Washington “one of the greatest threats to our country.”
Cunningham, one of five Democrats in the primary to take on incumbent Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, is running the ad in the Raleigh market this week.
The 30-second spot focuses on Cunningham’s military service before shifting to health care issues — lowering prescription drug costs, guaranteeing coverage for preexisting conditions and expanding Medicaid — that Cunningham says are being threatened due to corruption in Washington.
“Issues that matter,” he says in the ad.
Cunningham, a one-term state senator and lawyer, was awarded the Bronze Star for his service in Iraq and Afghanistan as a member of the Army Reserves. The ad features images of Cunningham in uniform imposed on a barn while he speaks in the foreground, and he opens by talking about joining the military.
Cunningham, endorsed by national Democrats and more than 100 North Carolina leaders, has far out-raised his Democratic opponents, including state Sen. Erica Smith. She has raised objections to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s early endorsement in the race.
Smith, who was endorsed by the gay rights advocacy group Equality NC on Tuesday, has not run television ads.
Tillis ran his first television ad in September 2019, touting the endorsement of President Donald Trump. The ad uses Trump’s endorsement of Tillis during a North Carolina rally to make the case for his reelection.
The Cunningham ad buy is part of a seven-figure campaign that includes digital advertising and direct mail. Cunningham’s campaign said he would report $1.7 million cash on hand for the fourth quarter of 2019. Those reports are due to the FEC by the end of the month.
“I think the path to victory is first to travel and to listen, to connect with people where they are and listen to their ideas and their plans and the things that are making them anxious,” Cunningham said earlier this month.
The Tillis campaign was quick to seize on Cunningham spending more than half of his cash on hand, saying it was an “effort to ward off” Smith and pointing to criticism leveled by Democrats at Tillis when he announced a $2.2 million buy — or half of his cash on hand at the time — during his primary against Raleigh businessman Garland Tucker. Tucker ended his bid before officially filing to run.
Though Cunningham has not been on the air, television ads in support of him have been reaching voters. VoteVets.org Action Fund, a nonprofit, has spent more than $3 million on television ads. Cunningham has been endorsed by VoteVets.org PAC, which typically backs Democratic military veterans in their runs for office.
VoteVets.org Action Fund does not have to disclose its donors. Cunningham, who pledged not to take corporate PAC money, “supports overturning the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United decision that has allowed unlimited dark money to pour into our elections,” according to his website.
Cunningham and Smith are considered the front-runners in the Democratic primary, but polls show that many Democratic voters have yet to make up their mind. Cunningham lost a 2010 bid for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.
Mecklenburg County Commissioner Trevor Fuller, Raleigh physician Atul Goel and Steve Swenson of Bunnlevel are also running for the Democratic nomination. Tillis faces three Republican challengers in the primary: Paul Wright, Larry Holmquist and Sharon Y. Hudson.
The primary is March 3.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Domecast politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it on Megaphone, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published January 21, 2020 at 4:55 PM.
