Rosen’s First Major Digital Ad Buy Targets Latino Voters

Nevada Rep. Jacky Rosen’s Senate campaign announced its first major digital buy Friday, launching ads in both English and Spanish aimed at Latino voters. The freshman Democrat is challenging Republican incumbent Dean Heller in a race that could be one of her party’s best pickup opportunities in the Senate. The digital ads, shared first with Roll Call, focus on Rosen’s background and her support for so-called Dreamers, young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. The ads include a 30-second video and a shorter 15-second version, in both languages. They highlight the importance of Latino voters as part of Rosen’s coalition for November. According to her campaign, the effort is part of a “substantial six-figure investment” in digital ads, and will run on Hispanic-focused local websites such as El Tiempo and El Mundo, and websites like YouTube and Hulu Latino. The language of the ad will be based on a the user’s browser language settings. The video begins by introducing Rosen as the first in her family to graduate from college and highlights her career as a software developer. The ad then shifts to her support for Dreamers. “In Congress, she didn’t back down. She voted against Trump to protect Dreamers,” the narrator says. “Jacky understands that dreaming is not sleeping. It’s working, sacrificing, saving.” Watch: Which Members of Congress Might Not Be Back in 2019? Rosen is not the only Democratic Senate challenger focusing on this key bloc of voters. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, who is running for Senate in Arizona, also launched an early digital ad in Spanish. Rosen has signed onto the DREAM Act, which would provide Dreamers a path to permanent legal status. She is also an original co-sponsor of a bipartisan bill known as the United and Securing Act, which would provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and additional border security. Rosen does not mention Heller in the ad, but the incumbent has most recently aligned himself with President Donald Trump on immigration. Heller had previously backed a comprehensive immigration bill developed by a bipartisan group of senators in 2013. But in February, he told Politico he was inclined to support Trump’s immigration proposal, which included funding for a wall along the Southern border, curtaining legal immigration, and providing a path to citizenship for 1.8 million Dreamers.. Heller was still facing a primary challenge at the time (Republican Danny Tarkanian has since decided to run for the House instead.) “I have a tendency to support what the president’s trying to do, and that’s probably the position that’s closest to where I am,” Heller said in February. Heller is the only Senate Republican running for re-election in a state that Hillary Clinton won in 2016. Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates the race a Toss-Up. Get breaking news alerts and more from Roll Call on your iPhone or your Android.