The primary super PAC backing Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-SC) presidential campaign announced this week in a memo to donors that it was canceling planned television advertisements this fall.
The New York Times reported that the Trust in the Mission PAC signaled it was cutting “millions of dollars in television ads” which comes after millions of dollars in ad buys have “hardly budged” Scott’s numbers in the polls.
“We aren’t going to waste our money when the electorate isn’t focused or ready for a Trump alternative,” wrote Rob Collins, co-chairman of the super PAC. “We have done the research. We have studied the focus groups. We have been following Tim on the trail. This electorate is locked up and money spent on mass media isn’t going to change minds until we get a lot closer to voting.”
He added that the super PAC would still fund its “grassroots door knocking, conduit fundraising, event hosting, and earned media efforts.”
The Washington Post reported that some of the money from the ads that are being canceled will be redirected to Scott’s ground game in early primary states.
The Times noted that the pulled television ads — combined with Scott’s lackluster performance in the most recent fundraising quarter as his poll numbers sit at 2% in the most recent RealClearPolitics average — is being seen in political circles as donors “all but abandoning Mr. Scott.”
It’s not clear just how many ads the super PAC is canceling, but the report noted that it could be in excess of $15 million.
Collins also took a shot at former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in the memo, saying that “no serious person thinks a moderate will win this primary no matter how many elite insiders champion their candidacies.”
“In a news environment dominated by two wars and a chaotic scrum over the Speakership, TV money will simply be wasted,” the memo said. “Voters are tuning out a political race where no one will caucus for more than three months.”
