Former talk show host and media magnate Oprah Winfrey has cut a new ad for Maryland Democratic candidate for governor Wes Moore, less than two weeks before the state’s primaries.
The ad, a 30-second bio spot, will run online and on television. In the ad, Winfrey talks about Moore’s upbringing and calls him “the type of transformational leader that these times demand.”
This ad was launched with a six-figure ad buy; two other ads from Moore went up on the air in the past two months, and the campaign has been the top spender on advertisements so far in the race, with almost $3 million spent so far, according to data from AdImpact.
Here’s the ad:
In addition to her endorsement, Winfrey also raised over $100,000 for Moore, who used to host a show on her network, in a virtual fundraiser in June.
The ad comes as Moore is locked in a tight Democratic primary to fill the open seat of term-limited Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. An internal poll from Moore’s campaign shows him down by 1% to Comptroller Peter Franchot, with former Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez in third place.
An independent poll in June by Goucher College had Franchot at 16% with Moore and Perez tied at 14%. However, according to the poll, 35% of likely Democratic voters were still undecided.
Meanwhile, Republicans will have to decide between four candidates including Hogan’s pick, Maryland secretary of labor Kelly Schulz and former President Donald Trump’s pick, state Rep. Dan Cox.
The profile of Cox, who has sown doubt about the 2020 presidential election results, has been boosted in ads from the Democratic Governor Association in recent weeks. The DGA has spent $1.4 million on an ad campaign that highlights Cox’s endorsement by Trump, his conservative credentials on abortion, the Second Amendment and the 2020 election.
Schulz and her campaign have condemned the ads, while saying that Cox is “a pathological liar, a conspiracy nut, and he’s completely unfit to serve as governor — and that’s exactly why the DGA is willing to spend this kind of money supporting him.”
In response, DGA deputy communications director Sam Newton cited polls showing Cox ahead of Schulz by single digits and said that “given Cox’s front-runner status and radical MAGA stances, we are starting the general election early and wasting no time to hold him accountable.”
Early voting in Maryland began on Thursday.
