Kamala Harris will start running an ad on the Las Vegas Sphere starting on Thursday, according to a press release for the presidential campaign Tuesday. It’s the first time a political campaign has advertised on the Sphere and it’s part of an intense get-out-the-vote effort as the polls in Nevada show Harris in a dead heat against neo-fascist Donald Trump.
The $2.3 billion Sphere was opened in late 2023 and aside from being a concert venue, also has 580,000 square feet of LED displays that can play advertising material. Advertising on the Sphere reportedly costs about $450,000 per day, but campaigns that buy an entire week can get a discount. Big days in Las Vegas, like New Year’s Eve, can fetch daily ad rates as high as $1-2 million, according to PR Week. It’s not immediately clear how much the ads are costing the Harris campaign.
The red-white-and-blue Harris ad is available on YouTube and shows messages like “vote for freedom” and “vote for opportunity” along with a photo of the vice president. The message “when we fight we win,” also flashes along with the words “when we vote we win.”
A political pin with the words “vote for reproductive freedom” is also displayed in the ad—a message the Democrats believe will help drive people to the polls. The 2022 midterm elections saw huge turnout for Democrats up and down the ballot, credited in large part to the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, which allowed women to make choices about their own bodies.
Trump, a convicted felon who spews racist garbage at every opportunity, appointed three of the justices instrumental in overturning Roe and previously bragged about killing abortion rights in the country, though he sometimes tries to distance himself from that stance in public because it’s so unpopular.
The polling averages for Nevada couldn’t be closer if they tried. FiveThirtyEight’s average for the state currently has Trump up 0.2% over Harris. The Democrat previously had a lead of 1.2% in the state back in late August.
Nevada is one of seven states that are being worked hard by both campaigns where the FiveThirtyEight polling average margins are just as tight, including Wisconsin (+0.1% Harris), Pennsylvania (+0.3% Trump), Michigan (+0.7% Harris), North Carolina (+1.2% Trump), Georgia (+1.5% Trump), and Arizona (+1.8% Trump).
“In the days before Election Day, Team Harris-Walz is pulling out all the stops to get voters to the polls,” the Harris campaign said in a press release Tuesday. “In Nevada, the Sphere activation will be a critical piece of our efforts, which also includes homepage takeovers of top newspapers, mobile billboards in Reno, Carson City, and Las Vegas.”
“The campaign has also invested in radio remotes and food trucks near early voting sites, hosted community Get Out The Vote block parties, and is ensuring strong presence at local events like the East Las Vegas ‘Cabalgata’ horse parade.”
Harris will make an appearance in Nevada on Thursday. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5.
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