Bernie Sanders is airing his first television ad in two early presidential voting states, hoping to introduce himself to a broader slice of the electorate.
The largely biographical ad, titled “Real Change” looks to highlight what his campaign says is his history “of standing up for working families and for principle.”
"Thousands of Americans have come out to see Bernie speak and we've seen a great response to his message," said Jeff Weaver, campaign manager for the Vermont senator who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.
The new ad marks the next phase of Sanders’ campaign, as he seeks to build momentum after a stunning summer surge in which the self described democratic socialist drew massive crowds to campaign events across the country. His biggest challenge will be to broaden his base beyond the party activists, millennials and aging progressives drawn to his unorthodox campaign.
The ad will air statewide in Iowa and New Hampshire and is part of a $2 million-plus ad buy, his campaign said. It comes as polls suggest Sanders flattening against a rising Hillary Clinton. An NBC/Survey Monkey released Friday showed Clinton back at the 50 percent mark among Democratic or Democratic-leaning voters. Sanders was at 30 percent in the poll; Martin O'Malley and Larry Lessig, were at just 1 percent.
The ad features photographs of Sanders as a voice over tells his story as the son of a Polish immigrant who grew up in a Brooklyn tenement and spent his life “fighting injustice and inequality.” It notes he was mayor of Burlington, Vt., and later was elected to Congress. It notes his opposition to the Iraq War (which Clinton voted to authorize) and says he’s now “taking on Wall Street and a corrupt political system.”
“People are sick and tired of establishment politics and they want real change,” Sanders says in the ad.