The battle for the open seat in Minnesota's Second Congressional District is spilling over into more TV ad time, as both Republican Jason Lewis and supporters of DFLer Angie Craig launch new advertising spots.

Until this point, ads for and by the Craig campaign -- which has a substantial fundraising advantage over Lewis' campaign -- have been showing up on stations around the Twin Cities metro area. (The Second District stretches along the Mississippi River, including both suburban and rural communities from Red Wing to Lakeville to Northfield to Zumbrota.)

Most of the ads for Craig (including some funded by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) have focused on comments made by Lewis during his time as a talk-radio host. Lewis' ad, titled "Monster", has Lewis firing back at "political insiders who take my words out of context and tell you I'm a monster." Lewis says that while he "may not be politically correct, I won't back down from the tough issues."

Jack Dwyer, Lewis' campaign spokesman, said the ads are running throughout the Twin Cities, but declined to provide specifics on how much the campaign spent to put them on the air.

Meanwhile, the House Majority PAC and AFT Solidarity -- a teachers' union PAC -- on Tuesday jointly unveiled a new ad supporting Craig. The spot, titled "Worst of All", again takes aim at Lewis' comments on slavery and women. Those comments were also the subject of a September press conference in which state DFL leaders called on Lewis to release more of his radio archives. Lewis has said he does not have access to those records.

The ad calls Lewis "offensive", "divisive" and "unfit to represent us," while playing recordings of some of Lewis' comments.

In a news release, the groups said they plan to run the ad on broadcast and cable TV and digital platforms in the local market for two weeks. It is part of a $1.8 million ad purchase in the metro area, targeting multiple Congressional districts.