Advertisement: “TN, not DC”

Transcript: Johnson: “What does Marsha Blackburn know about us, Tennesseans who fight every day to get ahead?” Not much. She’s in DC, taking $2 million from insurance and drug companies and voting against lowering our costs for things like insulin. I’m Gloria Johnson, a teacher, not a politician. I own a gun and have common sense. I fought against these big corporations and cut taxes for us because my home is Tennessee, not DC.”

Analysis: In her first television commercial, Senate candidate and Democratic House Speaker Gloria Johnson attempts to appeal to middle class or even right-leaning voters in her race against incumbent Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn. Over music that sounds like it was written for a pickup truck commercial and footage of farmers, waiters and other workers, Johnson promotes her gun ownership, her “common sense” and her connection to Tennessee. At the same time, she calls Blackburn out of touch and criticizes the incumbent for taking $2 million away from the health and insurance industries while voting against a 2022 bill capping insulin costs.

Johnson, who has served in and out of the state House of Representatives for 12 years, says in the ad that she is “not a politician,” echoing Blackburn, who, after six years in the U.S. House of Representatives, served a term in the Senate and 20 years in the U.S. House of Representatives State legislature has no contact with Tennessee residents.

For her late advertising campaign, Johnson is spending between $15,000 and $20,000 per station for a week of advertising on three Nashville-area stations, although her ad will run nationally.

Where it’s running: Broadcast television

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