Calling the gun lobby cowards and vowing to take down the NRA, Tammy Murphy went up on the air today with her first TV ad for the 2024 Democratic U.S. Senate primary in a commercial she filmed outside the National Rifle Association world headquarters.
“I’m Tammy Murphy, and I will make it my mission to take down the NRA,” she says. “I can’t be bought, I won’t be bullied.”
In “Cowards,” Murphy narrates her own ad in front of the NRA offices in Fairfax, Virginia. She pledges to advocate universal background checks, no more immunity for gun manufacturers, and a ban on assault rifles.
The ad will run on cable television and digital and streaming platforms. The Murphy campaign described the buy as significant but declined to say how much they were spending.
Script: “This is the NRA’s World Headquarters. It’s where Cowards work. They know their guns are killing our kids, but they don’t care. And weak, pathetic politicians refuse to stand up to them. In the Senate, I’ll fight for universal background checks, to end immunity for gun makers. And let’s ban military-style assault rifles once and for all. I’m Tammy Murphy, and I will make it my mission to take down the NRA. I can’t be bought, I won’t be bullied, and that’s why I approve this message.”
She faces Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) in the June primary for the Senate seat currently held by indicted Democrat Bob Menendez. Two other candidates, former Newark Board of Education member Lawrence Hamm and activist Patricia Campos-Medina, are also in the race; Menendez has not yet announced if he would seek re-election to a fourth term.
Murphy’s first TV ad comes five days before Democrats in the state’s largest county, Bergen, hold their convention on March 4 to endorse a U.S. Senate candidate. After losing contests in Monmouth, Burlington, and Hunterdon counties – and with Kim favored in Sussex and Warren this weekend – Bergen is critically important to the First Lady’s Senate campaign.
The gun control ad is the first aimed directly at Democratic primary voters.
During her more than six years as First Lady, Murphy has staunchly advocated for gun safety legislation.
Kim also has a strong record on gun control issues. When he first ran for Congress in 2018, former Rep. Gabby Giffords and her husband, now-U.S. Senator Mark Kelly (D-Arizona), campaigned for Kim in New Jersey’s 3rd district. Kim had a 0% rating from the NRA last year and ran for the House with endorsements from the Brady Campaign, Everytown for Gun Safety, Giffords, and Newtown Action Alliance.