Donald Trump will begin airing ads on Friday in four key battleground states in his first commercials of the general election cycle, campaign chairman Paul Manafort told 50 members of Congress on Tuesday.
The spots will air in Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, Manafort and two others staffers told the legislators in a telephone conference call, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Ads in other states would come after Sept. 1.
The spots are expected to build on Trump's messages delivered in recent policy speeches on the economy and national security, the Journal reports.
Congressional members told advisers during the call that they were concerned that the Republican nominee has not focused on substantive issues or on highlighting differences from Democrat Hillary Clinton — and has instead centered on spats with the media and others.
These factors have played key roles in Trump's plunging poll numbers against Clinton, the Journal reports.
As of May, Trump's campaign has spent only $20 million on media spots, compared with $62 million by Clinton, according to the Journal.
Trump will campaign in North Carolina on Thursday. President Barack Obama won North Carolina in 2008 but lost four years later.
The president carried the other three states in both elections, the Journal reports.
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