Trump’s Michigan TV ads end after one week
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s foray into advertising in Michigan has ended after one week and about $600,000 of broadcast television ads.
But a billboard owner has started a new campaign in the state on behalf of the New York businessman.
Contracts for the Trump campaign’s advertising purchases on network TV stations across the state began Sept. 1 and ended Wednesday, according to records filed with the Federal Communications Commission.
A Detroit News review of public files at TV stations in the Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Lansing and northern Michigan TV markets found no new contracts have been filed this week to maintain Trump’s advertising presence in the Great Lakes State.
Trump’s one week of advertising on Michigan airwaves coincided with his visit Saturday to Detroit and the Labor Day holiday weekend, which was his third campaign trip to Michigan since the Republican National Convention in July. The New York businessman spent $257,255 on Detroit TV stations and $158,176 in the Grand Rapids market, according to FCC records.
A spokesman for Trump’s Michigan campaign declined to comment on the campaign’s advertising strategy.
Republican consultant Katie Packer, a frequent Trump critic, said the GOP nominee’s strategy in Michigan is “confusing to say the least.”
Another analyst at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics called Trump’s one-week ad buy in Michigan “another head-scratcher” following the Republican candidate’s trips to the Democratic strongholds of Connecticut and Washington state.
“The general rule with television advertising is that once you go up, you stay up,” said Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a political newsletter. “ ...So if Trump isn’t going back up in Michigan, this feels like a waste of money.”
As Trump’s TV ads went off the air, billboards supporting his candidacy started going up.
Stephen Adams, owner of Adams Outdoor Advertising, made a $305,165 independent expenditure in support of Trump with ads on his own billboards, according to a report filed Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission.
A spokesman for Adams said the ads would appear on the company’s digital billboards in the Metro Detroit, Lansing, Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo markets.
“Mr. Adams is a historical support of the Republican Party,” said Rick Zecchino, vice president and general counsel of Adams Outdoor Advertising. “These billboards are just a furtherance of that historical support.”
Zecchino declined to comment on what the billboards would say.
Democrat Hillary Clinton has not advertised on broadcast TV in Michigan since the March 8 presidential primary.