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Bloomberg spends $1 million on Cory Booker TV ads – Metro US

Bloomberg spends $1 million on Cory Booker TV ads

Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, New Jersey, has just announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate Credit: Getty Images Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, N.J., has seen his lead in the race for U.S. Senate diminish in recent polls.
Credit: Getty Images

With about one week left until the Senate special election in New Jersey, Mayor Michael Bloomberg will start spending $1 million in TV ads on behalf of Cory Booker, The New York Times reports.

The commercials, which will begin airing today, come after Booker saw his lead in the race diminish in recent polls.

The Newark mayor leads his Republican opponent, Steve Lonegan, by 13 points in a Monmouth University poll released last week.

“Monmouth University’s polls have consistently shown this race to be closer than most pundits thought it would be,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. “While Cory Booker’s lead is relatively sizable, many voters have doubts about his motives in seeking this seat.”

Booker has been under attack by critics and his opponent, who say he is more interested in being a celebrity than serving New Jersey. The poll revealed that 45 percent of voters agree that Booker’s main objective is grabbing the national spotlight.

The new ads paint Booker as a pragmatic candidate who will “get things done” in a “divided Washington.”

“He is a solutions guy rather than an ideologue,” Bloomberg said in an interview with the Times.

The special election will be held on Oct. 16 to fill the seat of the late Frank Lautenburg.