Former Rep. Steven Horsford is launching a five-figure digital ad campaign featuring the story of his own recent health scare as he seeks to win a primary that has centered largely around health policy.

Horsford's new video tells of an ailment that led to a six-way heart bypass surgery while he was in Congress in 2013.

"I was just going in for a regular physical. I felt fine, and I remember hearing the doctor whisper in my ear, 'We're going to need to do surgery, it's pretty serious,'" Horsford says in the ad. "If we didn't have health insurance, I don't know what we would have done. When I see this Congress taking away health care, I'm taking that fight on."

Horsford, who served one term representing the 4th Congressional District before losing in an upset in 2014, previously unveiled a three-step plan for Congress to start reducing prescription drug costs.

With support from prominent Democrats including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and the politically formidable Culinary Union, Horsford's campaign spending in the seven weeks leading up to early voting was about five times that of any of his other opponents. Beyond that, the Culinary Union's parent entity, UNITE Here, has also paid for TV ads on his behalf.

He's facing off with several Democratic contenders, including Medicare for All activist Amy Vilela, who blames the current health-care system for the death of her daughter at age 22 and has said nothing short of universal health care will solve the prescription drug pricing problems. She's criticized some of his policy ideas on Twitter.