Biden Campaign Intensifies Presence in Battleground States

The Biden-Harris campaign announced on May 8 its plans for the eight battleground states this month, which includes an overall increase in presence, in comparison to former President Donald Trump’s campaign that the incumbent’s staff described as being “nonexistent.”

The plans include spending $14 million on advertising that tells a “consistent” story to “critical” voters about “President Trump’s attack on things like reproductive freedom, [and] plans to rip away Americans’ health care,” which refers to matters such as the Republicans’ attempted repeal of the Affordable Care Act and roll backs on Medicare.

At least 1 million of that spending will be devoted specifically to targeting black and Latino communities, as well as Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities. This will include “high-impact and non-traditional TV opportunities” on networks such as Comedy Central and ESPN, campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said.

A specific example he highlighted was a pro-abortion ad the campaign ran during the Kentucky Derby.

Mr. Tyler also mentioned the president’s previous participation in more than 10 interviews and promised to “continue that work into the month of May.” President Biden has a one-on-one interview scheduled on CNN on May 8 at 7 p.m. EDT.

Trump Funding

This ad spend, according to the campaign press release, follows a “paid media blitz” of $30 million in spending for six weeks meant to “help cement the choice for general election voters between President Biden, who wakes up every single day fighting for the American people, and Donald Trump, who is focused solely on himself and running a campaign of revenge and retribution.”

“On the other hand,” Mr. Tyler said to members of the press, “Trump’s paid media strategy can only be described as anemic and inefficient.”

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The Trump campaign’s “inability to buy ads,” he said, will result in it paying premium prices for ad space, “further undermining their already limited reach. The undecided voters who are going to be crucial here require repeated and consistent outreach.”

When asked about the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign’s announcement that they had generated more than $76 million in fundraising in April, Mr. Tyler said, “We’ll see where that money actually came from and how much did they raise when they filed the report.”

“The Trump team doesn’t exactly have a well established relationship with the truth first and foremost,” Mr. Tyler said. “But here’s what absolutely is true: We have a $190 million war chest. That’s money in the bank. That money is powered by broad, diverse growing, grassroots support network. People like teachers and nurses who are chipping in $5, $10, $20 bucks at a time.”

The Biden campaign also announced that it was intensifying efforts on the ground by opening 200 new campaign offices and increasing its staff by more than 500 people within battleground states.

“Our battleground presence reflects our core strategy we know to win in this election,” the campaign’s battleground states director, David Cameron, said. “We need to reach both traditional swing voters as well as diverse communities that have historically made up our Democratic base.”

‘Going to Be a Close Election’

Quentin Fulks, principal deputy campaign manager for the Biden-Harris campaign, said President Trump’s presence in battleground states “does not exist” with “virtually zero” staff or programs in place. In fact, he said, President Trump and the RNC “gutted their efforts to reach voters of color” by closing minority outreach centers and opting for photo ops he called “cheap and ineffective.” He also criticized the former president for allegedly attacking Republican voters who backed former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley months after she suspended her campaign.

Mr. Fulks shared President Biden and Vice President Harris’s own efforts to get out among the battleground state voters. Those efforts include President Biden’s scheduled commencement speech at Morehouse College in Atlanta, which will be followed by him speaking later that day at the NAACP annual freedom fund dinner in Detroit.

“We’re showing up in the communities every day and attempting to earn every vote,” he said. “Donald Trump and his team are doing none of that. The general election is just starting to crystallize for voters across the country, and we’re taking advantage of the moment to meet them where they are.”

However, members of the press brought up the fact that President Trump’s retrospective job approval was rising in swing states, and Republican organizers in battleground states are saying that the ground game the Democrats are building “isn’t necessary,” and that it was enough to have President Trump come out to do a rally once a month.

“The bottom line is that there’s no question there’s going to be a close election,” said Mr. Fulks of President Trump’s approval ratings. “We’ve said that and have reiterated time and again, and it’s going to take all of us coming together to defeat Trump again. The best predictor of how voters are feeling is how they’re voting for Joe Biden, and we see strong support for President Biden across the diverse states in the primaries.”