Billionaire Michael Bloomberg is putting his money where his mouth is. Earlier this month he pledged to spend more than $100 million in Florida to help Joe Biden win the state. Today we are learning he is following through with a plan with an initial weeklong ad buy of $5.4 million. The Miami Herald reports:
The ads will begin airing this weekend on broadcast TV in all 10 of the state’s media markets, aides said, and will criticize President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The ad was created by the super PAC, Priorities USA.
NEW TV AD: Trump said he would put America First — and he has. Our country is first in sickness and first in death because Donald Trump failed to lead on the coronavirus.
Running in Florida with support from @MikeBloomberg. pic.twitter.com/6VDR27dYRw
— Priorities USA (@prioritiesUSA) September 17, 2020
While Biden does hold a slight edge in Florida, recent polls show the race getting closer in the key state. One group that the Democrats are especially trying to sway is Latino voters. A recent poll found Biden’s support among Hispanic voters, specifically in Miami-Dade Country slipping. Donald Trump won the state back in 2016 by 1.2%. If he wins again, there is a big concern the outcome would be similar to 2016. The Herald quotes Kevin Sheekey, a senior Bloomberg adviser as saying, “It is also our hope that we’re able to win the state, which in our view will allow Joe Biden to declare victory on the night of the election and keep Donald Trump from other attempts at tearing this country apart.”
The senior adviser said that Bloomberg is focusing on Florida because without its 29 electoral votes, Trump’s hopes of winning re-election would be severely diminished. And a heavy investment in the state could also force Republicans to siphon resources from other key presidential battlegrounds, like Pennsylvania.
But Sheekey added that because Florida is expected to tabulate its votes faster than other states, many of which are expecting to receive absentee ballots at a much larger scale than previous elections, Bloomberg wants to win Florida because it would make clear on the night of the election that Biden won, even if tallies in other states stretch into the following day.
Bloomberg is expected to roll out new campaigns in the state each week right up until the election. Some of the ads are expected to focus on Latino and Black voters.