The TV ad war begins in North Carolina as Harris and Trump campaigns go on air

Former President Donald Trump (left ) and Vice President Kamala Harris (right)(Photos: Seth Wenig-Pool/Getty Images; Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)

Presidential ads have arrived in North Carolina — and they’re likely here to stay until November.

Both major campaigns have launched TV ad buys across the state starting in August, with less than 100 days until the election.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is blanketing battleground states with advertising through the Democratic National Convention, while former President Donald Trump’s campaign moves forward with ads of its own, including in North Carolina. Harris’ campaign has focused on introducing the new presumptive Democratic nominee to voters in key states and attacking Trump, while the GOP campaign goes after Harris as “weak” and “dangerously liberal.”

The initial blitz from both sides of the aisle includes buys in the Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte and Greensboro-High Point-Winston-Salem media markets, according to files submitted to the Federal Communications Commission.

Over the next two weeks, viewers in the Triangle will see ads from both campaigns airing on WRAL during Olympics coverage. Those in Charlotte will see spots during morning and evening news coverage and programming on WBTV. The campaigns are also going on air in the Piedmont, with ad buys on stations in Lexington and Winston-Salem.

The Trump campaign’s latest 30-second ad, titled “I DON’T UNDERSTAND,” goes after Harris on immigration policy and crime.

“Kamala Harris: Failed. Weak. Dangerously liberal,” a narrator says in the ad.

Harris’ campaign, in its first TV ad titled “Fearless,” opted for a biographical angle. It displays photos and videos of her through the years as a prosecutor, attorney general and vice president in a 60-second spot. And it attacks Trump on taxes and health care.

The ads are the latest signal that both campaigns are taking North Carolina seriously as a battleground state this fall.

Harris is set to hold a rally in the Research Triangle on Thursday alongside her running mate, whom she will introduce on Tuesday. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is also poised to be a prominent campaign surrogate in swing states, Raleigh’s News and Observer reported this week.

Trump visited Charlotte in late July for a campaign rally, and has continued to visit swing states alongside his VP pick, U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio.