Smiley’s broad range of targets illustrates the combative approach she has brought to her campaign, a strategy that may at first seem counterintuitive to her efforts to draw in support from enough voters to oust Murray.
Murray has also run a slew of negative ads against Smiley, saying the Republican’s anti-abortion stance could threaten women’s rights and also trying to tie her to extremist elements within the GOP.
Cornell Clayton, a political scientist at Washington State University and director of the Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Service and Public Policy, said while people say they dislike it when campaigns go negative, such ads work.
“Attack ads provoke stronger emotional responses from voters and are more effective at motivating behavior,” Clayton said in an email.