Pro-Biden group launches ads targeting Black and Latino Virginians

A political advocacy group created to support President Biden’s agenda on Friday launched a new set of ads targeting Black and Hispanic voters in Virginia.

The ads run by Building Back Together (BBT) focus on the Biden administration’s economic, pandemic recovery, and immigration policies.

“With this new investment, we’re directly engaging with Black and Latino Virginians across the Commonwealth about how the President has kept his pledge to uplift all communities, and highlight how the Build Back Better Agenda will deliver for their families by reducing inequality and increasing opportunity for communities of color,” said Building Back Together senior adviser Addisu Demissie.

BBT plans to spend half a million dollars on the Virginia campaign, which is a continuation of a larger investment in outreach to Black voters in Georgia and Latinos in Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada. 

The ad targeting Black voters opens with Biden and Vice President Harris, with a focus on jobs and ending the pandemic. 

BBT is also running digital video and radio ads in English and Spanish for Hispanic Virginians. 

“It’s critical that we communicate with people of color in Virginia about the progress President Biden has achieved, including ensuring that the economic recovery has reached Black and Latino families disproportionately impacted by the pandemic,” said Building Back Together Chief Strategy Officer Mayra Macías. 

The Latino-focused ads cover more ground policy-wise, with the video ads opining on the expansion of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program.

Former President Trump aggressively dialed down the program, which grants deferral from deportation and work permits to foreign nationals from certain countries that have undergone natural or man-made disasters. 

Biden has expanded the program and maintained existing TPS designations, expanding the number of TPS-eligible foreign nationals by nearly 300,000.

The radio ad also includes a mention of Biden calling for a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants. 

The Hispanic-focused ads also tout the Biden administration’s small business loans that were part of the pandemic relief package passed earlier this year, as well as the pre-paid child tax credit and the universal vaccination program. 

Although the ads talk exclusively about the Biden administration, they come as former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) is in a dead heat in the governor’s race against Republican Glenn Youngkin. 

The Virginia gubernatorial election is the first major election since Biden won the presidency in November, and many observers see it as a trial run for voters’ attitudes ahead of the 2022 midterms. 

Harris on Thursday stumped for McAuliffe, who was originally seen as a heavy favorite to win the race. 

And Biden is due to appear at a McAuliffe rally Tuesday in a state where he bested former President Trump by 10 points, but where Trump improved his share of the Latino vote from 2016 to 2020 by six points, according to exit polls.