With the primary election still three weeks away, Republican Kelly Ayotte is already hitting back at a potential general election opponent with a new TV ad denouncing Joyce Craig’s problematic record as mayor of Manchester.

In part, the ad is a pragmatic response to the $2 million worth of negative ads the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) has already run against Ayotte this summer. But the ad buy is also a sign that the Ayotte campaign is turning its attention to the general election in November, even as Republican opponent Chuck Morse continues to fight for the nomination.

“Look, nothing against Chuck (Morse), but the Democrats have decided that Kelly (Ayotte) is going to be the nominee,” a veteran GOP insider told NHJournal. “And they’re proving it by spending millions of dollars on television attacking her. What’s she going to do, wait until September to strike back? She’s 25 points ahead (in the primary). She’s doing the right thing.”

In the ad, the narrator says: “Joyce Craig turned Manchester into ‘Craigville,’ a huge tent city for the homeless in the inner city. Drug smuggling, rapes in the city cemetery, murders in the streets. Joyce Craig’s ‘Craigville’ was a dangerous disaster.”

“Joyce Craig: the wrong direction for New Hampshire,” the narrator concludes.

Craig’s Democratic opponent in the primary, Cinde Warmington, is not mentioned.

According to Ayotte’s campaign, the term “Craigville” comes from members of Manchester’s homeless community who gave the name to tents on Merrimack Street during her tenure as mayor. It is also used for the “Visit Craigville” website, funded by the Republican Governors Association.

Ayotte makes no apologies for taking on Craig.

“Joyce Craig is trying to rewrite her record as mayor of Manchester, but voters have a right to know the truth. Joyce Craig was an incompetent mayor who led Manchester down the wrong path and would bring the same failed policies to Concord,” Ayotte said.

“Under Craig’s leadership, Manchester residents have had to deal with an out-of-control homelessness crisis, drug abuse and violent crime. That’s why she can never be governor of our wonderful state.”

While Ayotte has her eye on the Democrats, Morse is still making the case for the Republican nomination. On Jack Heath’s radio show Monday morning, Morse argued that Republicans need to unite behind Donald Trump. He criticized Governor Chris Sununu for criticizing the party’s nominee, linking it to Ayotte’s decision in 2016 to withdraw her support for Trump.

“I think we should have learned from 2016 when Kelly couldn’t support President Trump and put someone else up as the nominee, which cost us the U.S. Senate seat for 12 years,” Morse said. “We need to unite the Republican Party behind President Trump.”

Sununu endorsed Ayotte in the primary and led Morse 59 percent to 25 percent in the latest St. Anselm College Survey Center poll released last week.

Ayotte has been inundated with a barrage of negative advertising from both the DGA and the two Democrats running for governor, who have their own primaries. On Monday, for example, Warmington sent out a fundraising email denouncing “Ayotte’s extremist agenda.”

Ayotte has already spent $2 million on advertising since her July television appearance, a necessary move, insiders say, because the New Hampshire primary is so late. Because candidates don’t announce their party nominees until Sept. 10, they have less than two months to recover from the divisions left by the primary and launch a full campaign. If candidates wait to fend off negative attacks, they could find themselves in a deep hole after the primary.