UPDATE: This story has been updated to include the Tom Didier radio ad.
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — With 50 days ahead of the May 2 primary, political ad season started Monday.
Saying “Fort Wayne needs serious leadership,” Jason Arp rolled out a 30-second spot he said would play for Fort Wayne Comcast and Frontier subscribers during Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox News.
“These viewers are generally fiscally conservative voters that would be sympathetic to our position on limiting government to its appropriate roles,” Arp told WANE 15.
Tom Didier, Arp’s opponent and fellow city councilman, planned radio ads in the near future.
“We are in the process of finalizing a radio buy with our media firm, but they haven’t recorded the ad yet,” campaign spokesman Derek Pillie said.
“It will be focused on introducing Tom Didier, reminding voters about the primary election and encouraging them to vote for Tom Didier in the Republican primary for mayor,” Pillie added.
Arp also planned to use radio soon, which often means 1190-AM WOWO.
Local Republicans often use the station to reach primary voters, according to Scott Howard, WOWO’s general sales manager.
“WOWO’s conservative news-talk programming has been the top rated station for conservative voters for the past 20 plus years and so especially during Primary Season those candidates know that they can reach potential voters directly with advertising on WOWO,” Howard explained.
The Democratic candidates, incumbent Tom Henry and challenger Jorge Fernandez, do not have an equivalent liberal station to use.
Fernandez planned to take his message online.
“Before the end of the month, the campaign intends to have a digital advertising campaign in Google Ads like it has had in some previous campaigns,” he told WANE 15.
“The digital campaign will focus on making sure people are aware about early voting options for the May 2 primary and that the campaign will focus on supporting working families; transparency of city processes, investments, and records; and making sure there is an equitable use of city funds and resources.”
The Henry camp said it planned no advertising during the primary.
Filings with the Allen County Election Board at the end of 2022 showed the Arp campaign with $67,490.45 on hand; Didier had $177,356.24; Henry showed $210,510.79 and Fernandez reported $275.79.
