Tom Steyer’s ads are set to run from July 10 to July 23. | Steve Pope/Getty Images Tom Steyer unleashes TV ad blitz

Billionaire activist Tom Steyer’s campaign rolled out a seven-figure television ad campaign promoting his nascent campaign, the largest single television ad buy in the Democratic presidential primary.

The pair of ads are backed up by $1.4 million dollars in spending, according to details of the ad campaign shared first with POLITICO. They will run nationally on CNN and MSNBC and locally in the four early states — Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada — for two weeks, from July 10 to July 23.


“I left my business to combat climate change, fix our democracy, and hold President Trump accountable,” Steyer said in one of his new ads . “Last year, we ran the largest youth voter registration in history, helping double turnout and win back the House.”

Few of the other Democratic presidential candidates have hit the television airwaves, and none have committed the amount of money in one buy that Steyer has with his first buy.

Sen. Kirsten GIllibrand (D-N.Y.) announced Monday plans to run an ad hitting President Donald Trump tied to a tour she was doing through Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan this week. Her campaign told POLITICO that her new ad would be backed by a five-figure sum.

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Other candidates, including Reps. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) and Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), ran television ads around the first Democratic debate, but those purchases will be dwarfed in spending by Steyer’s new campaign, according to data from Advertising Analytics, an ad tracking company. Former Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) — who has also spent significantly on television ads — was the first candidate to air one, timed to the 2018 Super Bowl.

In his second ad , Steyer focused on his pledge to limit the influence of corporations in politics, an early theme of his candidacy. He has leaned into his outsider status in the starting moments of his campaign.

“We’re a get-out-to-the-people, directly-address-the-people organization,’’ Steyer told POLITICO on Tuesday . “I’ve been an outsider this whole time in Democratic politics."

The $1.4 million buy represents a small chunk of what Steyer has committed to spending on his presidential bid. A Steyer spokesperson told The New York Times on Tuesday that the billionaire former hedge fund manager will spend “at least $100 million” on the race.

“Tom is running for president because he sees how the broken political system in Washington has failed the American people and has a plan to change it,” Steyer's campaign manager Heather Hargreaves said in a statement. “Our campaign is focused on exactly that — creating a United States that puts its people before corporations.”