The Democratic National Committee is launching an advertising campaign in the upcoming primary states of South Carolina and Nevada, targeting communities of color, rural areas and potential young adults, as President Joe Biden makes his re-election pitch to voters.
The ad campaign, first featured on NBC News, focuses on getting out the vote, rejecting “MAGA” Republicans and highlighting issues like voting rights and student loan forgiveness. Most of the new ads — on radio, in print and online, along with billboards and kiosks on college campuses — begin Saturday.
The Democratic National Committee is spending six figures in South Carolina and another six figures in Nevada.
The early advertising in those states underscores the Democratic Party’s goal of reaching more diverse populations at the start of the primary season, unlike previous years, which began with the Iowa caucuses.
Primaries in South Carolina and Nevada moved up as Biden revamped the party’s nominating schedule, knocking the predominantly white states of Iowa and New Hampshire from the top of the order. Because of the change, Biden did not appear on the New Hampshire primary ballot this week. But he still emerged victorious thanks to a successful writing effort.
South Carolina’s Democratic primary is Feb. 3 and Nevada’s is three days later.
“These investments in South Carolina and Nevada should send a very clear message: The president and I know that our democracy is stronger when we all participate,” Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement. “And while some elected officials seem intent on undermining our democracy, the president and I will continue to do everything we can to make it easier, not harder, for all Americans to participate in this democracy by voting this November.”
In South Carolina, the radio ads will target Black voters, air on 43 Black-focused radio stations in 10 media markets and potentially reach hundreds of thousands of voters, a Democratic National Committee official said. In a radio ad, Rep. James Clyburn, DS.C., call out the democrats to send MAGA Republicans a message that they reject their agenda. In other, Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison resellers fighting for student loan debt relief and voting rights protection.
In Nevada, the Democratic National Committee runs ads in Spanish, as well as Tagalog and Chinese.
Polls indicate Biden faces declining support from Black and Latino voters. He recently visited South Carolina, the state that helped propel him to the Democratic nomination in 2020, and Harris will visit Las Vegas on Saturday.
As the 2024 campaign has ramped up, the campaign has pressed forward with its central argument that freedom is what is at stake in November.
“This election will decide nothing less than the fate of our nation, and it is absolutely critical that every American know what is at stake and the vital role their vote will play for the future of our country,” Harris said in her statement.