Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Gary Peters had a rough week.
Peters had spent the past two weeks advancing the Democrats’ "war on women" narrative after his Republican opponent, former Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, said that women, such as White House spouse Claire Shipman, preferred job flexibility to pro-trial lawyer regulations backed by President Obama.
Land shot back on Monday with a snarky 30-second bit mocking the idea of waging a war on her own sex.
"As a woman, I might know a little bit more about women than Gary Peters," Land says in the ad, which is titled "Really."
The commercial has logged 100,000 views on Youtube and is likely to reach many more homes. The Land campaign will make the ad a centerpiece of a $300,000 ad buy in Michigan’s largest media markets, according to the Washington Post.
That is the first of many television ads to come from the Land campaign. The Republican contender outraised Peters for the second consecutive quarter, according to the most recent Federal Election Commission filings. The Peters campaign had $3.4 million cash on hand as of March 31—nearly $1 million less than Land’s warchest.
Peters, a seasoned congressman and state legislator, also faced a barrage of criticism from other Michigan groups and conservative activists for his record in Washington.
America Rising, a conservative non-profit, also released on Tuesday a 30-second highlight reel of Peters showering effusive praise on Obamacare.
"I stood with the president consistently, stood with the president and voted for healthcare reform," he says in the video.
Another ad from free market group Americans for Prosperity slammed Peters for failing to represent the people of Michigan by taking up Obama’s mantle. That vote, according to the ad, could cause as many as 225,000 Michiganders to lose their health insurance.
"Peters insists he has no regrets. He’d do it to us again," a female narrator says. "Tell Congressman Peters to speak for us and stop supporting Obamacare."
Those kinds of statements may come back to hurt Peters. A recent poll from Republican-leaning American Crossroads found that more than half of likely Michigan voters had an unfavorable view of Obamacare.