This morning, the Washington Post reported on American Bridge 21st Century’s paid media plans for the 2024 presidential election.
American Bridge 21st Century is planning to spend $200 million — including $140 million in paid ads — over the course of the 2024 cycle. $85 million of that fundraising has already been raised and committed to the program as of January 2024.
Read the full story here.
Washington Post: Democratic group plans $140 million voter testimonial onslaught against Donald Trump
By Michael Scherer | 01/12/2024
Key Points:
- The previously unreported project by the outside group American Bridge 21st Century developed 732 leads, conducted 472 interviews and then filmed about 50 voters who will anchor a $140 million ad campaign starting this spring, aimed at reminding women and working-class voters why they voted against Trump in 2020, according to the group’s leaders.
- The ads will focus Trump’s role in curtailing abortion access, his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, Republican plans for entitlement reform and Biden’s plans for the economy. Early spots include testimonials from a female union electrician in Wisconsin and a Pennsylvania woman who talks emotionally about what it meant to hang her U.S. flag outside her home on the day after the Jan. 6 attack.
- “Our goal is to be the best in class at finding real people to say why they want to elect Joe Biden and why they want to prevent Trump from winning another term,” [American Bridge Co-Founder Bradley] Beychok said. “The secret sauce is abortion and freedom plus democracy has been greater than all the Republican lunacy we have seen.”
- “American Bridge was a great strategic partner in 2020, and I’m glad they are on board again in 2024,” said [Anita] Dunn, who worked as a senior adviser to the Biden-Harris campaign in 2020.
- With two staffers in each of the states, American Bridge started in the summer, searching social media and reaching out to partner organizations in local communities to find people who might have stories to tell about how Biden’s policies had helped them or how Trump’s actions had hurt them.
- American Bridge’s total budget is expected to reach $200 million this election cycle, according to people familiar with the plans. It includes a targeted research effort aimed at potential third-party challengers to Biden, like attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr., academic Cornel West, Green Party contender Jill Stein and a candidate potentially backed by No Labels. All are in the process of seeking ballot access so they can mount a viable electoral college challenge to the Republican and Democratic nominees.
- “We’re leaving no stone unturned and making sure that voters — especially women voters — in these key states know just how much is at stake in November,” American Bridge co-chair Cecile Richards in a statement.
Published: Jan 12, 2024 | Last Modified: Feb 21, 2024