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Planned Parenthood Targets Joe Heck in 7-Figure Ad Buy

Super PAC goes after Heck for voting to defund Planned Parenthood 8 times

Planned Parenthood Votes is attacking Nevada Rep. Joe Heck in a new seven-figure buy. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)
Planned Parenthood Votes is attacking Nevada Rep. Joe Heck in a new seven-figure buy. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Planned Parenthood Votes on Tuesday is launching a seven-figure ad buy in the Nevada Senate race.

The ad, shared first with Roll Call, attacks Republican Rep. Joe Heck for voting to defund Planned Parenthood.

No. 2 on Roll Call’s Senate challenger rankings this month, Heck is running against former state Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto for the seat being vacated by retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.

The ad will run in English and Spanish in the Las Vegas media market for two weeks, beginning Tuesday. It will also run on Spanish radio.

The black-and-white spot opens with women facing the camera, as pink text flashes on screen explaining that “thousands of women … rely on Planned Parenthood.”

The music becomes more ominous as text on screen reads: “A Washington politician voted 8 times to defund Planned Parenthood.” The camera pans out, bringing into focus a black-and-white image of Heck.

The ad by the political arm of the women’s health care organization is launched, in part, in response to polling that Planned Parenthood commissioned in September that showed that 71 percent of independents in the Silver State had a positive view of the group.

Planned Parenthood Votes is also running an aggressive field campaign, hoping to engage women, Latinos and young voters through canvassing and phone banking in Clark and Washoe Counties. The super PAC is planning to knock on 140,000 doors before Election Day to draw a contrast between Cortez Masto and Heck’s records on Planned Parenthood.

The group had previously partnered with EMILY’s List on a $500,000 digital ad buy that painted Heck as “anti-woman” and “bad for Nevada women.”

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