WASHINGTON — A prominent super PAC is planning a multimillion-dollar digital ad campaign in support of President Joe Biden’s agenda, the latest investment from a Democratic outside group designed to boost the party ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
The group, Priorities USA, intends to begin running the ads in the early summer in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Wisconsin, battleground states that are set to host competitive Senate races in 2022.
Danielle Butterfield, Priorities USA’s executive director, said that while the group is still determining the exact messages the ads will include, the campaign will focus on GOP opposition to Biden’s policy agenda — such as the COVID-19 relief bill the president signed into law in March — and reaching potential voters online.
“Our buy is going to be a hundred percent online,” Butterfield told McClatchy. “It’s going to be pretty clear that our program in 2021 will be focused 100 percent on reaching people online.”
Priorities USA officials said the ads will target three groups: voters who cast a ballot for the first time in 2020, suburban voters, and voters of color. The total ad buy is planned to cost $2 million.
The ad campaign from the super PAC, which spent more than $125 million on the 2020 election, comes after a new Biden-aligned group, a nonprofit called Build Back Together, announced its own multimillion-dollar investment in support of the president’s agenda.
Priorities USA officials said they decided to announce their effort after the National Rifle Association said it would spend $2 million on ads opposing the president’s push for greater restrictions on the sale of firearms.
“While Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are working tirelessly for the American people and getting our country back on track, it’s no surprise that Republican-allied groups like the NRA are trying to distract from Democrats’ success with divisive ads,” Guy Cecil, chairman of Priorities USA, said in a statement. “Priorities USA is more than ready to respond to such attacks.”
