Priorities USA puts that Mike Bloomberg money to use in statewide ad buys
Screenshot from Priorities USA's "Responsibility."

Screenshot 2020-09-17 145642
The ads attacking Donald Trump's coronavirus response will air in all Florida markets.

Voters across Florida will soon see the product of that $100-million spend Mike Bloomberg promised in support of Joe Biden.

Priorities USA Action announced it will air ads in all 10 Florida media markets beginning Friday. The time slots will be funded through a $5.4-million donation from Bloomberg, Biden’s former primary foe.

“If Joe Biden wins Florida, he wins the election. Mike Bloomberg’s support means we can continue the important work of connecting with Florida voters to hold Donald Trump accountable for his utter failure in combating the coronavirus,” said Guy Cecil, Chairman of Priorities USA.

“Trump lied to the American people and downplayed the virus, and many more people have died or lost their jobs because of it. The stakes have never been higher and we are fortunate to have Mike Bloomberg as a partner and are looking forward to continuing to work together in this fight to elect Joe Biden and move our country forward.”

The spots will be updates of ads already run by the PAC in Florida and other battleground states.

One of the ads, “Responsibility,” builds off a prior version that prompted a lawsuit by President Donald Trump. It plays audio quotes of the chief executive boasting about coronavirus response as a death toll soars. The difference from the June ad is the number of deceased now has climbed from 120,000 past 200,000.

Another ad related to the COVID-19 crisis, “America First,” cops a Trump campaign slogan and turns it into a blunt attack. “Donald Trump said he would put America first, and now he has,” a narrator states. “The United States leads the world in coronavirus cases.” This one noted 60 million job losses on top of the 200,000 deaths.

Both ads incorporate recently released audio from interviews Trump gave to journalist Bob Woodward about playing down the severity of the virus.

The “America First” ad will run in the Panhandle while “Responsibility” airs in Florida’s other nine media markets.

The most recent buy comes on top of $12.5 million in prior spending by Priorities USA. Bloomberg’s money will additionally fund digital ads and get-out-the-vote efforts, particularly vote-by-mail mobilization. The group also plans to target Black and Hispanic voters in Florida.

Jacob Ogles

Jacob Ogles has covered politics in Florida since 2000 for regional outlets including SRQ Magazine in Sarasota, The News-Press in Fort Myers and The Daily Commercial in Leesburg. His work has appeared nationally in The Advocate, Wired and other publications. Events like SRQ’s Where The Votes Are workshops made Ogles one of Southwest Florida’s most respected political analysts, and outlets like WWSB ABC 7 and WSRQ Sarasota have featured his insights. He can be reached at [email protected].


2 comments

  • Nancy B.

    September 17, 2020 at 10:40 pm

    My elderly mother told me the other day that seeing the damage Trump has caused–and the inexplicable support he continues to enjoy from so many clearly misguided Americans–has caused her to cry in her room many nights. I was so heartbroken to hear her admit that.

    Our nation is afraid. My hope is that the vast majority of Americans reject Trump at the polls in November. Ignore his whining, his lies, his unfounded accusations, his idiocy and his insanity. He is a mentally ill man who has spent nearly 4 years in office lying, covering things up, undermining democracy and turning our courts into his personal law firms.

    Why would anyone in America want 4 more years of this chaos and corruption?

    PLEASE vote logically.

    Biden 2020!

  • PeterH

    September 18, 2020 at 10:14 am

    Let’s be quite clear….. the 2020 Trump campaign agenda is no longer focused on “providing a less expensive and much much better national health care system” OR “protecting our Southern border from the infestation of Mexicans”

    The new target is the American people. The American people are the enemy of the Republican Party……

    Join us at the Lincoln Project! Our democracy cannot survive another four years of Donald, his syncopates in Congress and especially Trump’s Joseph Goebbels ….. Attorney General William Barr.

Comments are closed.


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