A Democratic super-PAC is launching Joe Biden’s reelection ad campaign before he’s even announced his intentions to run.
Biden has hinted at another campaign numerous times but has yet to officially announce that he’s running for a second term in 2024. Nevertheless, the American Bridge 21st Century super-PAC has already started buying up advertising time in battleground states more than 19 months before the election, Bloomberg News reported Friday.
American Bridge is a single candidate super-PAC created to support Biden, according to OpenSecrets.org, which compiles campaign finance data. It spent $40,000 supporting Biden in 2020. But the group is most known for its attack ads, reflected by the fact that it spent $43.5 million opposing former president Donald Trump in that campaign.
The organization would not disclose how much it’s put down with its first ad buy of the 2024 election cycle, but told Bloomberg that the radio and television commercials it’s booked could reach the mid-six figures. Initial buys identified by tracking firm AdImpact showed $142,928 in reserved time in the target markets as of Thursday, which would make it the largest advertising expenditure of the 2024 campaign to date, the story said.
Also notable are the locations where the ads will appear: Greensboro, North Carolina; Flint, Michigan; Erie, Pennsylvania and Green Bay, Wisconsin — all battleground states in recent elections and likely to be so again next year.
“We feel like it’s an important segment because traditionally a lot of the independent expenditure groups go after the major media markets,” Tiffiany Vaughn, an American Bridge spokesperson, told Bloomberg. “And sometimes our message doesn’t get delivered to smaller communities, the rural beltway voters who can get overlooked.”
While the president has not officially announced another run, First Lady Jill Biden told The Associated Press last month the 80-year-old is ready for a campaign. “He says he’s not done. He’s not finished what he’s started. And that’s what’s important,” she said.
OpenSecrets parent the Center for Responsive Politics found that the 2020 president election was the most expensive ever, with spending on the race topping $5.7 billion. Biden’s campaign raised $1.69 billion, while Trump raised $1.96 billion.
American Bridge’s spending was dwarfed by other outside groups that year. Future Forward, a pro-Biden group he is not affiliated with, spent the most of any independent organization, with it total topping $141.5 million.
2024 spending is likely to be even costlier, and longer than any prior race, OpenSecrets projects.
The ads purchased by American Bridge will run Saturday and Sunday, the second anniversary of Biden’s American Rescue Plan legislation, Bloomberg said. Their topics will include Social Security, Medicare, insulin prices and infrastructure spending.
While they don’t single out any Republican politicians in the ads, they do include images of frontrunner Trump, who launched his new bid for the White House in November; Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the story said.
DeSantis has similarly not yet announced an official campaign, but he has taken steps typically seen before a launch, including a recent book tour accompanying the publication of his autobiography.