Brian Snyder/Reuters/File
Former President Donald Trump attends a campaign rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, April 2, 2024.
CNN
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A Democratic super PAC is launching a $25 million ad campaign in three swing states, featuring voter testimonials about former President Donald Trump’s role in reducing access to abortion.
American Bridge 21st Century’s ads mark the first wave of a larger, planned $140 million campaign by the group to persuade swing voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to reject Trump’s bid to return to the White House. President Joe Biden flipped all three states in 2020.
The ads, which the group says target women voters living in rural and suburban areas across the three states, represent the latest effort by Democrats to use emotional, straight-to-camera storytelling to influence election results since the U.S. Supreme Court. US overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
American Bridge co-founder Bradley Beychok said the group has recruited hundreds of voters “willing to share their stories about why another Trump in the White House would be so devastating for them.”
Trump’s appointment of three conservatives to the high court paved the way for the Dobbs decision that struck down the federal right to abortion, which has emerged as one of the most contentious issues in politics. Biden’s campaign sought to make it the defining issue of the 2024 election.
Although Trump said he was “proudly responsible” for the court’s action, the former president said decisions on abortion limits should be left to the states. He also declined to say how he would vote on an abortion access measure on the ballot this fall in Florida, where he resides.
In some cases, American Bridge’s ads juxtapose Trump’s words with those of these voters. In one, a Wisconsin woman named Anna — described as an obstetrician and mother of two — tearfully describes having to terminate a wanted pregnancy because the baby she was carrying would not survive.
“This is not a decision for any politician, including Donald Trump,” she says.
In another commercial, Lori — who worked as a nurse in central Pennsylvania — worries about Dobbs’ impact on her daughter and granddaughter.
“We are already going backwards,” she says. “If we re-elect Trump, what will women lose next?”
American Bridge officials say the ads are aimed at four types of voters: moderates, those who swing between Democrats and Republicans, conservatives who dislike the far-right rhetoric espoused by some Republicans, and a group they call “double skeptics.” , which they define. like voters who are not excited about Trump or Biden.
In total, the group has a budget of $200 million for its anti-Trump efforts in the 2024 election, including its previously announced $140 million advertising campaign. Officials say another wave of testimonial-style ads will roll out this summer across these three battlegrounds.
