DefendArizona is back today, spending $1.9M over the next two weeks on ads designed to pummel Senate candidate Mark Kelly as a "millionaire" who cannot be trusted. The one-candidate SuperPAC that spent $22.6M in 2018 beating up Kyrsten Sinema, makes its long-awaited (by some) return.
DefendArizona informed the Federal Elections Commission today that it spent $1.0M within the past 48 hours, but spokesperson Barrett Marson tells Arizona's Politics that the total budget through the end of August is $1.9M.
DefendArizona hammers Mark Kelly for World View Enterprises, a company that he co-founded several years ago, but only retains a stock position in now. World View received monies from Pima County and the state. The new ad states "Kelly got paid", although it is unknown how much money he earned from the company. (He values his stock at being worth between $100-250,000.) The ad also argues that World View received a $1-2M loan (aka grant) from the pandemic-related Paycheck Protection Program, although Kelly is no longer involved with the company (that continues to operate in Tucson).
As in 2018, DefendArizona has started out with funding from Republican contributors from Arizona; it brought in $166,000 through June 30. Either it has raised another $1.8M from those givers since then, or it is following the 2018 playbook, when it became the Arizona vessel for the Senate Leadership Fund. SLF - a partly dark money group affiliated with Senate Majority Leader (and multi-millionaire) Mitch McConnell - contribute nearly all of the $22.6M in 2018.
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