Wilson hits Pearce in her first TV ad

Heather Wilson began running the first television ad of her Senate campaign today, a spot that points out her GOP primary opponent’s negative campaigning and then hits him back.

A news release from the Wilson campaign said the ad is running “nearly statewide.” I’m assuming that means it’s in the Albuquerque television market, which includes all of the state except Doña Ana County. Here’s the ad:

“Why is Steve Pearce running a negative campaign?” the ad’s narrator asks. “Because on important issues, he’s wrong. Steve Pearce voted against adding 3,000 border guards to secure our border. And when Democrats tried to cut funding for the troops and require early withdrawal, Steve Pearce didn’t vote.”

The ad goes on to tout Wilson as the “commonsense conservative who can win in November.”

The ad appears to be a direct response to recent attacks from Pearce. Wilson has criticized him in the past for voting against the Border Patrol funding, but Pearce has been hitting Wilson repeatedly for the last week for missing 22 votes in Congress recently because she was in New Mexico campaigning.

Earlier this week, Wilson put out a news release hitting back. It states that, while Pearce has been criticizing Wilson for missing votes, he “missed one of the most important votes last year.” That was when Democrats proposed tying troop-funding levels to a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq, a proposal Wilson opposed.

“Steve Pearce says he wants to secure the borders, but he’s voted against hiring more Border Patrol,” Wilson said. “He says he supports the labs, while he voted to devastate their budgets. He says he supports Cannon Air Force Base, but he was the only one in our delegation to vote to mothball it. Now he’s criticizing my attendance record when he has a more important missed vote to account for.”

Pearce campaign spokesman Brian Phillips said in response, “Rep. Wilson missed 22 votes and an entire week because she was too busy campaigning. That doesn’t come anywhere close to missing one vote.”

Wilson’s newest ad, her first of the campaign, paints the same picture as the news release. It comes days after Pearce began airing his new TV ad, which you can watch by clicking here.

It appears that the gloves are off. Expect them to stay off until June 3.