Following Trump's immigration speech, Clinton making play for red Arizona

Hillary Clinton is making a play for Republican Arizona.

The Clinton campaign announced on Thursday that it will pay six-figures to air an ad in the state which has voted for a Republican every cycle — besides 1996 when it went for President Clinton in his re-election bid — since 1948.

The campaign will air an ad called “Role Models” starting Friday, which aired in other states over the summer.

The announcement follows what the campaign calls a “disastrous” immigration speech by Donald Trump in Phoenix on Wednesday.

With no 'softening' on immigration, can Trump broaden support?

Despite signs he would be open to softening his hard-line stance on immigration in recent weeks, Trump offered little change to the policies that boosted him to the GOP nomination in his Wednesday address.

Clinton and Democrats are attempting to tap into the growing Hispanic population in the state. This purchase comes in addition to another six-figure investment last month made in partnership with Arizona’s Democratic Party.

Recent polling shows that while Trump is up, Clinton is competitive in the state. A CNN/ORC poll last week had the two separated by 5 points. And the RealClearPolitics polling average has Trump ahead by just 2.5 points.

The effects of Trump's candidacy can also be felt down ballot. Incumbent Sen. John McCain is fighting to hold onto his Senate seat against Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick. While McCain does have a significant lead in most polling (8 points, according to RealClearPolitics,) a Public Policy Polling survey out Thursday had the two tied.

McCain has struggled with how to handle Trump, who at one point said the 2008 GOP presidential nominee was not a hero because he had been captured during the Vietnam war. McCain has said he supports the nominee, but has made his disagreements clear.

In a campaign ad out Thursday, the Republican senator went so far as to pitch himself as a balancing force in the case of a Clinton presidency.

“My opponent, Ann Kirkpatrick, is a good person, but if Hillary Clinton is elected president, Arizona will need a senator who will act as a check, not a rubber stamp for the White House,” he said in the ad.

Arizona isn't the only Republican state Clinton has been making a play at. Last week she opened a campaign office in Republican Utah.

Late Thursday afternoon the Democratic National Committee announced an initiative "to turn red states blue." The group will place party leaders, elected officials and activists in "red and blue states that have not been contested in recent presidential elections," according to a release from the party.

“We are committed to winning up and down the ticket from the White House to the state houses,” Donna Brazile, the interim chairwoman of the DNC, said in a statement. “The Victory Leaders Councils are one more way that Democrats are investing in all 50 states.”