President Joe BidenThe re-election campaign on Wednesday announced $14 million in new spending across the country. battleground states while releasing an ad targeting the former president donald trump about healthcare.
The spending includes seven figures that will target minority groups through TV, digital and radio ads this month, said the campaign, which seeks to capitalize on its early fundraising advantage over Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. The move also comes on the heels of a $30 million advertising blitz in competitive states that began after Biden’s State of the Union address in March.
A key component of the spending boost is a new ad which lists Trump’s past efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
“Health care should be a basic right,” Biden says in the ad. “Guys, he’s coming to take care of his health and we’re not going to let that happen.”
It’s all part of a broader strategy by the Biden camp to seize a fundraising advantage and flood swing states with ads and local officials. Biden is also campaigning in these central states, while Trump is stuck most days of the week in a New York courtroom, defending himself in a criminal trial linked to silencing cash payments.
Biden’s reelection efforts have focused heavily on protecting abortion rights, and the renewed focus on health care reflects his campaign’s long-held view that Trump’s attacks on the Affordable Care Act are a vulnerability for him. , especially as the 2010 law has only grown in popularity. Leaning into the broader issue of health care also allows Biden to promote related achievements, including capping the price of insulin for seniors at $35 a month.
“As we’re talking about the risks, I don’t think they could be higher for Americans who rely on the Affordable Care Act,” Biden campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said this week on a conference call with reporters. “This is a message that we will carry out diligently throughout the month of May and into the summer.”
A record 20 million people signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces this year, the Biden administration announced in January.
During his administration, Trump unsuccessfully tried to invalidate the ACA, including through the Supreme Court. In November he declared “Obamacare sucks!” on social media and said he wanted to replace him. Several months later, in March, he said, “I’m not running to kill the ACA, LIKE THE TWISTED JOE BUDEN MISINFORMS AND DISINFORMS ALL THE TIME.”
Last month, Trump insisted that he didn’t want to repeal the ACA and would instead improve it.
“We are going to make the ACA much better than it is now and much cheaper for you,” he said in a video.
Less than six months before the election, he has not yet given details on how he would do this.
Biden and his surrogates are aggressively targeting key states this month, according to the campaign, including Biden’s visit to Wisconsin on Wednesday and trips to Georgia and Michigan next week. Biden won all three states in 2020.
The campaign said it has leveraged its extensive fundraising to expand statewide operations.
“By the end of this month, we will have at least 200 offices and 500 employees,” said Dan Kanninen, the campaign’s swing states director. “The Trump campaign has virtually no presence in most swing states. If they decide to do any organizing work, they will almost certainly be forced to resort to expensive, last-ditch tactics with people who have never set foot in a community where they are knocking on doors.”
The Trump campaign disputed the claim that it does not have personnel in critical states.
“We have paid staff and volunteer-supported field programs in every swing state, including Wisconsin, and they are expanding daily,” Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s national press secretary, said in a statement. “Our aggressive and experienced operation is focused on getting out the vote and highlighting the contrast between Joe Biden’s weaknesses and failures and President Trump’s record of success.”
NBC News reported last month that the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee each had fewer than five staff members in each of the swing states.
Even with a likely advantage for Biden in terms of personnel, advertising expenses and fundraising, the presidential race remains close. In April NBC News PollTrump maintained a narrow 2 percentage point lead – within the margin of error – among registered voters.
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
