Biden campaign releases first TV ads in Ohio

Joe Biden’s presidential campaign is set to debut its first television ads in the battleground state of Ohio, underscoring the former vice president’s bullish view of the electoral map and his campaign’s confidence that it has a number of paths to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.

Until recently, Democrats had written Ohio off as an uncompetitive state after President Trump handily won there by more than 8 points in 2016. But recent polls have shown a tight race in the Buckeye State, raising Biden’s hopes that he can win a historic swing state that went for President Obama in both 2008 and 2012.

The newest ad, which will air in the Youngstown and Toledo markets through the Democratic National Convention next month, represents an expansion of the Biden campaign’s advertising strategy, which so far had been focused on five core states President Trump won in 2016: Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. 

The minutelong clip highlights Biden’s upbringing in Scranton, Pa., and is intended to “demonstrate his commitment to working families.”

“Scranton is a long way from Wall Street. You won’t find skyscrapers or big-city bankers. Just hard-working people that make this country work. That’s where Joe Biden’s story starts, in working-class neighborhoods where you can make a good living and pass on a better life to your kids,” a narrator says. 

“That’s why Joe Biden went into public service to begin with, to make a difference for working families. Donald Trump? He ran for president for himself and for his friends on Wall Street,” the ad continues.

The ad goes on to promote the former vice president’s “Build Back Better” economic plan, which is intended to give a boost to working families and families of color.

“This crisis has revealed that we must do more for workers and small businesses, not the wealthy. And Joe Biden is the one to do it. To build back better,” the narrator says.

The ad signals the Biden campaign’s conviction that it can make inroads in the Rust Belt, where Democrats ceded large chunks of working-class white voters in 2016 but hope the former vice president’s message will resonate in November. The newest video comes just after the Trump campaign began scaling down its spending in Michigan, another Rust Belt swing state that narrowly went Trump’s way four years ago.

On top of the Ohio ad, the Biden campaign is also promoting his economic plan with a $14.5 million ad buy in the core six battleground states and Nevada.