Candidates launched ads this week making their final cases to voters ahead of next month's primaries, while outside groups also hit the airwaves.
Here are five campaign ads that grabbed our attention:
1. Oz and the NRSC go after Fetterman
In Republican Mehmet Oz's first ad of the general election for Senate in Pennsylvania, he partnered with Senate Republicans' campaign arm to go after Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman on crime. The ad cites Fetterman's "crazy, dangerous ideas," and compares him to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
2. Mandela Barnes' closing argument
In Wisconsin's Democratic Senate primary, three candidates dropped out this week, effectively clearing the way for Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes to win the nomination. In his most recent TV ad, Barnes highlights the value of American-made products and promised to bring American manufacturing back to Wisconsin.
3. Hartzler brings her chainsaw
GOP Rep. Vicky Hartzler's latest TV ad ahead of Missouri's Senate primary on Aug. 2 pokes fun at two of her opponents — former Gov. Eric Greitens and state Attorney General Eric Schmidt — for brandishing weapons in their campaign ads.
"This Eric puts rifles in his ads," she says in the ads, referring to Greitens. "And Eric Schmidt plays with a blowtorch. So I brought my chainsaw," she says, revving it up.
"Just kidding," she says, setting it down. "A senator doesn’t need props. They need guts."
4. Maloney focuses on abortion
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., launched a new TV ad focused on abortion this week. She's facing fellow Rep. Jerry Nadler in the state's Aug. 23 congressional primary after redistricting forced the lawmakers to run against each other for the same seat.
Maloney doesn't mention Nadler in the ad, but says,“You cannot send a man to do a woman’s job.”
5. Democrats meddle in Michigan
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee took some heat from Democrats this week for meddling in a GOP primary in Michigan, boosting former President Donald Trump's preferred candidate against GOP Rep. Peter Meijer.
The 30-second spot describes Trump-backed John Gibbs, who has echoed Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, as "too conservative," messaging that could endear Gibbs to GOP primary voters. Meijer drew Trump's ire after voting to impeach the then-president following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
