President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign is increasing its advertising early in the 2024 election cycle by initiating a $25 million series of ads focused in seven critical battleground states.
The administration team made the announcement just before the Republican National Committee’s initial primary debate on Aug. 23. It’s the third-largest ad buy since President Biden declared his candidacy for a second term.
The campaign to maximize voter reach will run for 16 weeks across an array of markets and digital and traditional media outlets.
Major markets in Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin will be targeted by the campaign’s television advertisements. Democrats are also pushing commercials specifically focused at Hispanics in Florida.
The ads will air on broadcast and cable television networks and will attempt to capitalize on the opportunity to communicate with large audiences during high-reach television placements such as NFL Kickoff and the World Series.
According to the Biden campaign, the ads also will run in premium digital spots including on streaming platforms such as YouTube Reserve and Hulu, and well as on Connected TV.
Additionally, the ads will run on short-form video programs on Instagram and YouTube Shorts.
“As Republicans head to the debate stage ... to put on display their extreme and out-of-touch positions, we are investing in reaching Americans across the country with President Biden and Vice President Harris’s message for the middle class and for Americans’ fundamental freedoms,” President Biden’s campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said.
“This historic buy ensures that the president’s message reaches all Americans where they receive their news, and sends a clear sign that we are investing in an aggressive, meaningful, and effective paid media strategy.
Biden Fundraising
As of July 14, President Biden and the Democratic National Committee had raised more than $72 million in the 10 weeks after he announced his reelection intentions.This includes contributions to his campaign and a network of joint fundraising arrangements with the national and state parties. The funds were raised between April 25—when Biden made his announcement—and the end of June.
In comparison, President Barack Obama raised $85.6 million during the April-to-June quarter of 2011, when he initiated his campaign for a second term.
In the second quarter of 2019, President Donald Trump and the RNC raised a combined $105 million.
President Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, all increased their fundraising efforts in the final weeks of the quarter to bring the total of fundraisers to 38.
Trump’s Fundraising
The campaign of President Trump announced on July 5 that he raised more than $35 million for his White House bid in the second fundraising quarter, nearly double what he had raised in the first quarter of the year.His average donation is roughly $34, the campaign said as evidence of his grassroots support.
The sum represents the campaign period from April 1 to June 30.
The Trump campaign reported raising $18.8 million between his principal campaign account and a joint fundraising account during the first three months of 2024.
President Trump’s team announced in May that it had raised more than $6.6 million in the days following his second indictment—this time in Miami on federal charges related to his reported stockpiling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and alleged attempts to obstruct their return.
This included more than $4.5 million in online donations and $2.1 million raised at a lavish fundraiser held the night of his arraignment at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
This despite the former president being indicted four times for multiple alleged crimes—in New York, Florida, Washington D.C., and most recently in Georgia.
