EXCLUSIVE — A conservative immigration nonprofit group is launching a new ad in states with competitive Senate races targeting Democrats over illegal immigration and the death of Kayla Hamilton, who was murdered in 2022 by an illegal immigrant.
American Sovereignty is releasing two ads — a 30-second and 60-second spot — on television and digital platforms in North Carolina, Michigan, and Georgia, states expected to host some of the most competitive Senate races of the 2026 midterm elections. The ads feature Hamilton’s mother, Tammy Nobles, who says she doesn’t want another parent “living the nightmare that I am living.”
“Kayla Hamilton is my daughter,” Nobles says in the 60-second ad, shared exclusively with the Washington Examiner. “She was murdered by an MS-13 gang member who wasn’t supposed to be here. He was an illegal immigrant. Kayla was beautiful on the inside and out.”
Hamilton, a 20-year-old autistic woman from Maryland, was murdered by Walter Javier Martinez, a teenage illegal immigrant from El Salvador. Martinez smuggled into the United States illegally in March 2022, just four months before Hamilton’s death. Hamilton was found by her boyfriend in a mobile home, and Martinez was charged with first-degree murder, robbery, and rape.
Detectives found upon investigating the murder that Martinez was part of MS-13, a notorious crime gang whose members have been a prime target of Trump’s deportation policies as part of his crackdown on illegal immigration. Martinez pleaded guilty in 2024 and was sentenced to 70 years behind bars.
The seven-figure ad buy comes as the Department of Homeland Security has been partially shut down for nearly a month. Negotiations between Democrats and Republicans have stalled over policy disagreements. Democrats are pushing for more restrictions on immigration agencies after the death of two U.S. citizens.
Republicans have argued Democrats’ rhetoric, combined with the shutdown of DHS, is putting Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in danger. ICE officers are not affected by the shutdown financially, as they received funding in the GOP’s megabill passed last year.
American Sovereignty gained national attention when its pro-ICE ads ran in San Francisco near the Super Bowl.
“Never in a million years, I would have thought that this would happen to our family,” Nobles says in the nonprofit group’s latest ad. “Think about what Kayla went through that day. She didn’t know she was going to lose her life. We need to think about them. We should not be fighting against law enforcement and ICE on getting the criminals out.”
“Kayla could have been anyone,” she said. “She could have been your daughter.”
In North Carolina, former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Whatley are facing each other in what is expected to be an expensive general election for the open Senate seat.
In Michigan, there is a competitive Democratic primary between state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, Rep. Haley Stevens, and former Detroit Health Director Abdul El-Sayed. The winner will likely face former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers, who ran unsuccessfully for Senate in 2024 and lost to now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin.
KEVIN STITT PROMISES ‘SWIFT DECISION’ ON MULLIN SENATE SEAT AFTER MEETING WITH TRUMP
Republicans are chomping at the bit to oust Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in Georgia, with a competitive primary coming up in May. Among the GOP candidates are Reps. Mike Collins and Buddy Carter, as well as former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley.
The candidates have tried to link Ossoff to the progressive flank of the Democratic Party. Ossoff is the only Senate Democrat running for reelection in a seat won by President Donald Trump in 2024. However, defeating Ossoff won’t come easy, as the Democrat is a rising star in the party and has a considerable fundraising advantage over his GOP opponents.
