Horne’s first TV ads pledge border security

Tom Horne (file photo)

Illegal immigration may be Andrew Thomas’s bread-and-butter issue, but Tom Horne’s first television ads of the campaign season tout him as a candidate who will crack down on the border.

Horne’s campaign said it will hit the airwaves today with its first television spot, an ad that trumpets his efforts against bilingual education and ethnic studies while pledging to fight border crime and illegal immigration.

The short ads open with a picture of a smiling Horne, then segues into images of fencing along the Arizona-Mexico border and Border Patrol agents arresting suspects.

“Tom Horne had the guts to take on the liberals to stop bilingual education and end ethnic studies. As attorney general, he’ll defend our borders and fight illegal immigration,” the ad says.

Horne, who has served as superintendent of public instruction since 2003, is locked in a fierce primary battle with Thomas for the Republican nomination in the attorney general’s race. Thomas, the former Maricopa County attorney who ran for office in 2004 with the slogan, “Stop illegal immigration,” has attacked Horne, a former Democrat, as soft on illegal immigration, as well as a host of other conservative issues.

But with only $183,000 in Clean Elections funding, Thomas may have a tough time getting that message out against an opponent who has already reported raising about $325,000.