Hillary Clinton’s latest TV ad, set to run this week in South Carolina, targets African-American voters by railing against “systemic racism.”
The 30-second spot was made public Tuesday as the Clinton campaign braces for an expected loss to Sen. Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire. Clinton’s allies have expressed optimism that the higher percentage of minority voters in upcoming nominating states, including South Carolina, will salvage what has been a lackluster start to the primary season for the former secretary of state.
“Something is just fundamentally broken when African-Americans are more likely to be arrested by police and sentenced to longer prison terms for doing the same thing that whites do,” Clinton says at the outset of the ad over a montage of blue-collar minority communities.
Clinton calls for investment in education, healthcare and jobs to combat “generations of neglect” in the African-American community before arguing during the ad that minority encounters with police officers too often “end tragically.”
Her latest campaign pitch harnesses the frustration with law enforcement that has driven the Black Lives Matter movement to national prominence over the past year.
Clinton enjoys higher levels of support among minority voters than does Sanders, a fact that could hamper the Vermont senator’s chances in the rash of southern states that will vote or caucus in early March.
The South Carolina primary will take place Feb. 27. Clinton presently leads Sanders by 29.5 points in the Palmetto State, according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls.
