DETROIT (Reuters) – Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s campaign said on Thursday it was expanding advertising into the battleground state of Ohio, highlighting his media offensive into states that President Donald Trump won in 2016.
The new ad marks Biden’s first advertising push of the general election season into Ohio – where Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton handily in 2016 – and what the campaign said was the ninth battleground state in which it will be “up on the air with ads.”
It will contrast Biden’s “working-class upbringing” with the Trump administration’s prioritization of “wealthy donors and the well-connected,” the campaign said in a statement, and will run on broadcast and digital platforms in the Youngstown and Toledo markets through the Democratic convention in late August.
The purchase cost “seven figures,” but the campaign didn’t give a more precise amount.
Biden announced earlier in July $15 million in new spending on advertising, as the former vice president seeks to capitalize on his polling advantage over Trump ahead of the Nov. 3 election and a dramatic uptick in fundraising in recent months.
His campaign has said as many as 16 states could be up for grabs in November, with Trump’s coronavirus response and the battered economy making places like Arizona, Texas and Georgia, which have been inhospitable for Democrats, more competitive.
(Reporting by Michael Martina; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
