Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is hitting the airwaves with $10 million in television ads set to air over the next week in nine battleground states, including Colorado, campaign officials announced Monday.

The campaign said it would begin airing a new 30-second ad depicting Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s economic policies as “more of the same – but worse,” compared to Trump’s promises to cut taxes, create jobs and boost wages.

It’s the first ad the Republican presidential nominee has aired in Colorado, where Clinton has been spending millions of dollars since early June, although her campaign stopped targeting ads to Colorado viewers a month ago after numerous polls showed Clinton pulling ahead by double digits in the state.

Trump’s senior communications advisor, Jason Miller, said in a statement that the candidate’s “positive message of economic opportunity is working, and we see the national and battleground state polls all moving in the right direction.”

“With Hillary Clinton off the campaign trail yet again this week and continuing to take many communities’ votes for granted, we see this as the right time to show voters the benefits of an American economy under the leadership of Mr. Trump,” he added.

In addition to Colorado, the ad will air in Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida, New Hampshire, Virginia, Iowa and Nevada. Trump spent about $5 million on a television ad describing his immigration policy that aired in just four states earlier this month.

According to Kantar Media, Clinton has spent more than $77 million on television and radio advertising since she secured the Democratic nomination in early June. Her campaign has reserved about $9.2 million in airtime this week, the Associated Press reports.

The Clinton campaign started advertising heavily in Colorado in the first week of June and continued through July but stopped placing advertising specifically in the swing state soon after the Democratic National Convention. Colorado viewers, however, have still been seeing Clinton ads as part of the campaign’s national ad buys during the Olympics and continuing national cable and broadcast buys, campaign officials noted.

Polls have shown Clinton leading Trump by wide margins in the state – the Real Clear Politics polling average has Clinton ahead of Trump in Colorado by more than 10 points, 41.8-31.3, and she’s led in every poll that’s been released publicly since June.

But the Trump campaign’s state director disputed any notion that the billionaire is on the ropes in Colorado.

“The fact that Colorado is one of the nine battleground states in this new ad buy shows that it’s a key to our strategy for winning in November,” said Patrick Davis in a statement.

“With national and battleground state poll numbers surging, we’re going on offense, including in Colorado,” Davis added. “[B]y contrast Hillary has continually ignored our state in both appearances and ad buys.  Coloradans are tired of the same old Washington corruption and back room deals Hillary represents and will vote for change in November.”

A Colorado spokeswoman for the Clinton campaign begged to differ.

“Colorado is a critical state to our path to wining in November, which is why we’ve been organizing on the ground for over a year to do everything we can to earn the vote of every Coloradan,” said Meredith Thatcher, the state campaign’s press secretary. “We’re working harder than ever and we have no intention of letting up here.

Clinton and Trump both attended rallies in the state in late July and early August. Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, rallied supporters in Colorado in early August, and Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, appeared in Lakewood at a roundtable to discuss small business policies last week.

Both campaigns have been busy opening field offices across Colorado, too, campaign officials are quick to point out. The Trump campaign has six field offices up and running, including one in central Denver that opened on Saturday, while the Clinton campaign is opening its 19th field office, in Northglenn, this week.

This post has been corrected to reflect that the Trump campaign has six field offices (and a state headquarters) open in Colorado.

– ernest@coloradostatesman.com