AUSTIN, Texas — After staying positive early in the ad game, the war is on between Gov. Greg Abbott and his Democratic challenger, Beto O’Rourke. Both candidates are hitting each other over issues they think will resonate with voters, such as abortion and guns. One political science professor said these types of negative ads are meant to shape public opinion.

“Incumbents are more likely to have attack ads because they have less of the need to introduce themselves to voters. In the case of Abbott, everyone knows who he already is,” said Mark Jones, a professor of political science at Rice University.

A mysterious group has launched ads against Abbott. Coulda Been Worse LLC purchased at least $6 million in TV ads. It’s not tied to O’Rourke, but could help his campaign with the anti-Abbott message. 

Abbott’s team has already spent nearly $20 million on ads, which includes digital. O’Rourke’s campaign has made a $10 million TV ad buy. Jones said the amount of money needed to have a robust ad campaign is around $5 to $10 million. 

“The only real way to reach voters in Texas is via advertising the state of 29 million,” Jones said. “You can’t simply travel city by city and hope to reach the people. You can do that traveling and you can do those events, but you also need to combine that with a robust ad campaign.”

In the race for attorney general, incumbent Ken Paxton, R-Texas, has already gone negative. He’s got a lot more money to spend than his Democratic challenger, Rochelle Garza. 

“Attorney General Ken Paxton’s campaign, because it has more money and resources, can define Rochelle Garza in a negative way. And that’s effective because about half of Texas voters simply don’t know anything about Garza. And so what they learned about Garza is going to be in part what Paxton tells them and what Garza tells them. But if Garza doesn’t have enough money to get her own story out there on the internet, on the TV stations, and on the radio waves, then she’s going to be in trouble,” Jones said.

Garza’s got a digital spot out, but she’ll need more money to compete in the ad war with Paxton.

“The best way to think about it is campaign ads are part of the tool chest of any campaign in its goal to both affect public opinion as well as to mobilize some voters to turn out and others to stay home,” Jones said.

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