Harris campaign aims at battleground-state Latino voters with new ad

A new Latino-focused ad for Vice President Harris is courting Hispanic battleground voters by highlighting her record as attorney general of California.

The bilingual ad, dubbed either “Why Do We Fight” or “Luchamos,” is part of a larger push to reach Hispanic voters amid Democratic concerns over Republicans making advances with the demographic.

“She fought for car wash workers cheated out of their pay,” says the ad’s narrator, referencing a 2012 case in which the California Department of Justice, under Harris, won more than $1 million in restitution of unpaid wages from eight car washes.

“She fought corrupt banks that kicked families out of their homes,” continues the ad, in reference to an $18 billion settlement paid to California that same year by five major banks for improper mortgage foreclosures.

And the ad highlights Harris’s role in the Biden administration’s efforts to cap insulin prices — “she fought giant drug companies to lower the cost of insulin.”

“And she won,” the voiceover says.

The focus on consumer economics is a response to polling on Latino priorities, which overwhelmingly shows Hispanic voters are most concerned about the economy, and the cost of living in particular.

“Our community deserves a President who fights for us on the issues that matter most to our country and our community. From her time as a prosecutor taking on corrupt banks and greedy corporations who were gouging families to working to lower costs and expand opportunity as Vice President, it’s clear who she fights for,” Harris-Walz campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said.

Latino voters are likely to be crucial in Western states such as Arizona and Nevada, but they could also tip the balance in all-important Pennsylvania.

The Harris campaign has invested $3 million in Spanish-language radio during Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, making an inroad into a sometimes-ignored media market.

Harris’s first appearance on a Hispanic outlet as Democratic nominee was an interview with Edna Chapa, also known as “Angel Baby,” on Sept. 6.

That interview did little to tamp down attacks over Harris’s lack of media presence nationally, but it targeted mainly Arizona voters who don’t usually hear from a presidential candidate on their community radio stations.

Harris is scheduled to appear in a town hall organized by Univision in Las Vegas on Thursday, according to the campaign.

The new ad is slated to appear during Major League Baseball games, telenovelas, Spanish and Mexican soccer broadcasts and during Univision town halls featuring Harris and former President Trump.