In the battle to take on Rep. Devin Nunes (R–Tulare), the unconventional has become the conventional.
As Nunes has taken a starring role in the House Intelligence Committee’s impeachment hearings, the three Democratic challengers hoping to square off with him come November 2020 have actively sought to raise their profile – and more importantly – raise some dough.
The Tulare dairy farmer is among the best-funded members of California’s House delegation. At the close of the last quarter, Nunes’ campaign held nearly $7 million in cash-on-hand.
Bobby Bliatout, the Nunes challenger who holds the highly-coveted California Democratic Party’s endorsement, is launching his own unconventional gambit heading into the Thanksgiving holiday.
Tuesday, an ad agency representing Bliatout began purchasing thousands in cable airtime on CNN and MSNBC to air starting Wednesday through Thanksgiving and into Black Friday.
An ad report sent to The Sun indicates Bliatout has committed nearly $9,336 in cable purchasing for Thanksgiving week, a modest ad purchase.
Airing ads during holidays is hardly an oddity.
What is odd is that all of the airtime is in the San Francisco Bay Area cable market, not the Fresno-Visalia market (which has complete overlap with Nunes’ district).
Given the size and location, it may be just the beginning of a larger ad buy for the holiday. However, the move would allow Bliatout to make his pitch to a deep well of Bay Area donors looking to help Democrats take on Nunes next year.
Shortly after capturing the Democratic Party endorsement, Bliatout began airing digital ads to solicit funds for his bid.
His Twitter account, coincidentally, was temporarily suspended by the social networking giant.
An advisor for Bliatout did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
