Arizona, Georgia, and Texas: Joe Biden goes after Donald Trump country in massive campaign push that will see $280 million in TV ads in 15 states 

  • Joe Biden's campaign has reserved $280 million in digital and television advertising spots – the largest ad buy ever made by a presidential candidate
  • The massive buy is nearly twice the amount President Donald Trump's reelection campaign has reserved so far through the fall 
  • The television, radio and internet ads will run in 15 states that are largely swing states or those that traditionally run red in presidential elections
  • Biden's ads will mostly be one-minute long and include him directly talking to the camera with a message about Trump's failures in the coronavirus pandemic
  • The announcement comes as reports reveal Biden has narrowed his vice presidential pick between Senator Kamala Harris and Susan Rice 

Joe Biden's campaign announced in a memo Wednesday that it has reserved $280 million in a digital and television advertising push that will run through the fall in several battleground states.

This is the largest ad buy ever made by a presidential candidate and nearly twice the amount President Donald Trump's reelection team has reserved.

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The presumed Democratic nominee is putting $220 million toward television airtime and the remaining $60 million toward digital ads.

Trump's team, on the other hand, has reserved $147 million total, according to a review of Kantar/CMAG data.

Both campaigns, however, can add to or subtract from their reservations at any time.

Soon it will be hard to escape Biden's messaging as the ads will target voters on TV, radio and the internet in 15 different states, including the traditional swing states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Florida.

They will also run in states that are historically red, including Arizona, Georgia and Texas.  

Joe Biden's campaign has reserved $280 million in digital and television advertising spots – the largest ad buy ever made by a presidential candidate
The massive buy is nearly twice the amount President Donald Trump's reelection campaign has reserved so far through the fall and it will run in 15 states, with many being swing states or those that traditionally run red

In some of these red and swing states Trump won in 2016, the president is seeing his lead deteriorating over Biden.

Notably, Biden and Trump are neck-and-neck in average polling in Texas, which has not voted for a Democrat in a presidential election since 1976.

His campaign says a 'significant portion' of the reservation will be minute-long ads.

It's part of an effort to solidify what Biden aides say are the multiple paths to an Electoral College victory open to Biden heading into November.

The campaign reveals that the ads will attempt to drive home a message focused on what it claims is Trump's lack of leadership in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing economic fallout.

Biden will also be front and center in the ad spots, with the message coming directly from the vice president's mouth as he speaks directly to the camera.

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'We think it's important that people see him, and hear him, because it goes to the issue of leadership, and the kind of reassuring presence and stable leadership which we believe people see in Joe Biden,' the presumed nominee's senior strategist Mike Donilon said.

But campaign aides said Biden's vice presidential pick, whom he's expected to announce next week, will have a 'robust presence' on the campaign, including advertising.

Recent reports indicate Biden has narrowed the field down to two contenders – Senator Kamala Harris and Obama-era National Security Advisor Susan Rice.

On the digital side, Biden's campaign is reserving ads on streaming services like Hulu, YouTube and ESPN, as well as podcasts and mobile and online gaming platforms.

The campaign also plans to launch an 'unprecedented' paid media campaign to educate voters on their options for voting, heading into an election year when record numbers of voters are expected to vote via mail due to the coronavirus pandemic.

There are also new registration and voting requirements and options that have popped up in states in recent months, which could further complicate the voting process in November.

Patrick Bonsignore, the campaign's director of paid media, said much of the campaign's reservation is focused on the summer and early fall, when early voting starts in some key states.

'We know that in a pandemic, we are in unprecedented times,' said Biden campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon. 'We've seen chaos in recent primary elections, and we know that our responsibility is to make sure that we give voters everything they need to be able to vote, vote early and vote safely. We believe that our advertising strategy is going to do just that and serve as a way to break through from a lot of the misinformation out there.'

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In the memo, Biden's aides also highlighted their advertising efforts aimed at key constituencies, like Black, Latino and Asian American and Pacific Islander voters. They say they're able to reach about half of all Black households nationwide through their reservations on key Black media properties and note they're airing ads that feature different Spanish accents targeting diverse Latino populations in key regions nationwide.

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