Top Democratic super PAC launches Florida ad blitz after Bloomberg donation

The top Democratic super PAC backing Joe Biden’s presidential campaign is using a seven-figure cash injection from billionaire Michael Bloomberg to launch a new advertising blitz in Florida. 

Priorities USA announced on Thursday that it would use the $5.4 million donation from Bloomberg to buy a week of air time across Florida’s 10 media markets beginning Friday. The ads are updated versions of spots previously run by Priorities, including a coronavirus-focused spot that is currently at the center of a lawsuit by the Trump campaign.

The ad buys come after Bloomberg announced that he would spend $100 million to boost Biden in the Sunshine State, where polls show the former vice president running neck-and-neck with President Trump. 

The donation from Bloomberg, a former New York mayor who ran briefly for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, will focus primarily on advertising and voter mobilization efforts, particularly surrounding absentee voting. 

“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,” Guy Cecil, the chair of Priorities USA, said in a statement.

The latest investment by Priorities adds to the group’s already massive spending in the state. The super PAC has so far dropped $12.5 million in Florida, mostly on English- and Spanish-language digital and TV ads. 

Both Trump and Biden are already spending heavily in Florida, a massive swing state with a history of deciding elections by razor-thin margins. Trump carried the state in 2016 by just over 100,000 votes, or about 1 percentage point, and a loss there in November has the potential to deal a fatal blow to his reelection hopes.