Bloomberg spotlights gun control record in Super Bowl ad

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Mike Bloomberg campaigns in Vermont and Maine as he focuses on Super Tuesday

Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg is skipping both Iowa and New Hampshire, making Super Tuesday the main focus of his campaign; Molly Line reports from Burlington, Vermont.

Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg on Thursday unveiled the multimillion-dollar TV ad he plans to run this Sunday during the Super Bowl – a 60-second spot that highlights his longtime efforts to combat gun violence.

The ad focuses on Calandrian Simpson Kemp – a mother in Texas whose 20-year old son was shot and killed in 2013. In the commercial, she shares the story of her son’s love of football and emphasizes the former New York City mayor’s track record of battling the gun lobby while pushing for tighter restrictions for firearms.

“Lives are being lost every day. It is a national crisis,” Kemp says in the ad. “I heard Mike Bloomberg speak. He’s been in this fight for so long. He heard mothers crying, so he started fighting.”

MIKE BLOOMBERG'S ANYTHING BUT CONVENTIONAL CAMPAIGN ADS

Bloomberg – a multibillionaire business and media mogul – has spent hundreds of millions of dollars of his own money in recent years to support gun control measures. He shelled out more than $100 million in the 2018 midterm elections to back 24 congressional candidates who favored those efforts. Twenty-one of those candidates won, helping the Democrats win the majority in the House of Representatives.

Bloomberg is spending $10 million-$11 million to run his ad nationally during the Super Bowl, according to Advertising Analytics, a well-known firm that tracks ad buys and spending. The Bloomberg presidential campaign wouldn’t confirm that number but did tell Fox News that they are paying the market rate.

Advertising Analytics says President Trump’s re-election campaign is paying roughly an equal amount to run a commercial during the Super Bowl. The firm says that Bloomberg and Trump appear to be – as of now – the only two candidates buying national spots during the Super Bowl.

As of last week, Bloomberg’s spent an eye-popping $258 million to run ads since launching his presidential bid just two months ago.

Fox News' Kelly Phares contributed to this report