Joe Biden campaign launches Florida-only TV commercial on COVID-19

Screen shot from Joe Biden campaign TV commercial "Jerry."

Joe Biden‘s presidential campaign is launching a new Florida-only TV commercial Thursday using a resident of The Villages to express frustration over President Donald Trump‘s handling of the coronavirus crisis.

The new ad, “Jerry,” a 30-second spot, features a The Villages resident declaring “COVID-19 is extremely frightening. I’m in that group that’s vulnerable. And to watch the ineptness of the administration, which has really done nothing to date, they do not have a plan.”

As he speaks, all too familiar video clips appear of the year of the coronavirus crisis: ambulances, gowned nurses in a crowded emergency room, Jerry masking up, a map showing the spread of cases across the country. That’s followed by a series of clips of some of Trump’s less-than flattering moments.

Jerry — the Biden campaign would not release his full name — continues, offering Biden as a contrast.

“So I ask myself three things: Who can do something about COVID? Who can do something about prescription drug costs? Who can bring us back together again?” he says.

Then come the pictures of Biden and vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris looking victorious in masks, and of Biden meeting with seniors, including hugs in apparent pre-coronavirus days.

“Joe Biden is the answer to all three of those questions,” Jerry says.

The ad is airing statewide.

The Biden campaign also announced it has adapted his speech from Tuesday in Pittsburgh into a 60-second TV commercial that will begin airing nationwide on cable channels and on broadcast TV in Florida and other battleground states. “Be Not Afraid” uses Biden’s remarks to try to express his charges that Trump has fanned the flames of division, that he has failed to unequivocally condemn the violence in American cities, and that he has instilled fear throughout the country.

Both are part of a $45 million broadcast and digital buy for this week, the campaign reported.