(CNN) - Mayors Against Illegal Guns advocacy group launched a new television ad on Thursday praising Republican Senator Pat Toomey for co-sponsoring an amendment to expand background checks in Pennsylvania
The organization is backed by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and is focused on supporting gun control. They say that the Toomey television spot is a two-week, six-figure ad buy.
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While the 30-second spot praises Toomey for his support of comprehensive background checks in Pennsylvania, it also calls on the people of Pennsylvania to take further action saying, "Courage and Common sense. That's Pat Toomey. Tell him to keep fighting for background checks."
This is not the first time Mayors Against Illegal Guns has sponsored ads targeting specific legislators, but it does deviate from their usual negative attack ads on Senators who opposed background checks and other gun control legislation. The group has previously sponsored ads criticizing New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte's vote against background checks and has also aired ads condemning Arizona Senator Jeff Flake and Florida Senator Marco Rubio for their opposition to the measure.
The Toomey spot airs one month after the group aired a television ad in Pennsylvania urging the senator to support background checks.
Mayors Against Illegal Guns is not the only organization to spend dollars towards messaging around this issue. Their efforts are mimicked by the National Rifle Association, which announced Wednesday the launch of a $25,000 ad campaign in New Hampshire supporting Senator Ayotte's vote against expanding background checks.
The Toomey ad also aired one day after former Rep. Gabby Gifford's and her husband Mark Kelly's anti-gun violence super PAC, Americans for Responsible Solutions, announced that it had raised $11 million dollars in the past four months. That money helped pay for the six-figure ad campaign that the group sponsored in April before the amendment to increase background checks failed to pass in the Senate.