A liberal nonprofit group, One New Jersey, has purchased a six-figure ad buy in New York City and Philadelphia cable television markets to hit Republican Gov. Chris Christie on the state's 9.3 percent unemployment rate.
The 30-second spot, called "Real," will reach the entire state of New Jersey starting this week, ahead of the governor's reelection campaign this fall, and a possible bid for the presidency in 2016. The television ad is the first major spot this cycle directed against Christie.
"Our first commercial seeks to serve as a wake-up call to Trenton that there's a huge gulf between the rhetoric being espoused and the reality on the ground," Joshua Henne, a spokesman for the group, said in a statement.
One New Jersey — a progressive 501(c)4 group based in New Brunswick that launched a social media campaign this winter to "Unfriend Christie" after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg hosted the governor for a fundraiser in Palo Alto, Calif. — will supplement the television spot with online advertisements in the coming weeks.