Raja Krishnamoorthi first up on TV in the Illinois US Senate race to succeed Dick Durbin
"Growing up with a name and a background like mine, I always felt like an underdog and I still do," the Democrat from Schaumburg who moved from New Delhi, India, when he was 3 months old and was raised in Peoria, says in the ad.
"As your senator, I'll take on the biggest bully of them all. Because underdogs? We just fight harder," he says.
"I'm Raja Krishnamoorthi, and I approve this message because bullies like Trump can call us names, but you can just call me Raja," he says at the end of the ad, reiterating a campaign slogan Krishnamoorthi has used for years.
The campaign said it was putting $500,000 behind the 30-second spot for one week alone in airing it statewide on broadcast and streaming services. It also was the start of a sustained TV presence leading up to the March 17 Democratic primary, his campaign said.
Krishnamoorthi is joined in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary by Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly of Matteson. While billionaire Gov. JB Pritzker is backing Stratton, Krishnamoorthi has been a prolific fundraiser since entering Congress in 2017, which is reflected by the early ad buy.
Since the first of the year, Krishnamoorthi has raised more than $6 million, including more than $3.1 million from April through June. And his campaign said he entered July with more than $21 million in available cash.
Federal candidates are scheduled to formally release their fundraising data for the second quarter of the year on Tuesday. Stratton, who announced she would not accept corporate political action committee funding, has said she would report raising more than $1 million in the second quarter. Kelly had $2 million in her federal account at the end of the first quarter of the year.
Krishnamoorthi's ad is interspersed with various television news clips of his early Senate campaign, including a statewide tour to criticize Trump's imposition of trade tariffs on imports and Krishnamoorthi vowing to protect Social Security and Medicaid against administration cuts.
On Friday, Krishnamoorthi and his rivals for the Senate nomination are scheduled to appear before Cook County Democratic ward and township committee members to seek the county party's endorsement.
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