Washington ― President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign said Tuesday it plans to run a new ad promoting his economic agenda during Thursday’s primetime NFL season opener between the Detroit Lions and the Kansas City Chiefs.
The ad is part of a $25 million advertising campaign that will target battleground states over 16 weeks. The Michigan ad will run in the Detroit market on broadcast NBC television affiliates, on digital platforms and on Connected TV in an attempt to reach general election voters, according to the campaign.
The ad, entitled “Got to Work,” highlights the dire predictions of an economic collapse but how President Joe Biden “refused to let that happen,” highlighting efforts to shore up supply chains and enact legislation to lower the cost of prescription drugs. It notes that inflation has come down to 3% and the unemployment rate is the “lowest in decades.”
“President Biden has had Michigan’s back for a long time, all the way back to his work as Vice President to save Michigan’s auto industry in 2008,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, co-chair of Biden’s campaign, said in a statement.
“Now, his work as President is bringing good-paying manufacturing jobs home to Michigan, helping us lead and build the future of electric vehicles, chips, batteries and so much more.”
The ad blitz announced last month ahead of the first Republican presidential debate represents Biden’s third major buy of the 2024 election cycle and is expected to seven states in addition to Michigan: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Biden won Michigan in 2020 over Republican then-President Donald Trump by 3 percentage points or 154,000 votes. The Great Lakes State is anticipated to be competitive in 2024 as Biden seeks reelection.
A large field of GOP candidates are campaigning for the Republican nomination to challenge Biden, though Trump has largely dominated with polling showing his consistent lead over the others.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez last week became the first Republican to end his bid for the presidency after failing to qualify for the first debate.
Suarez didn’t support Trump in the 2016 or 2020 presidential elections, but earlier this year, Trump’s former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway mentioned Suarez’s name as a possible vice presidential pick. Suarez has said he would consider pardoning Trump if he’s convicted in the multiple indictments he faces.
Biden’s Labor Day celebrations Monday sparked controversy after he told reporters that he’s “not worried” about a United Auto Workers’ strike “until it happens.
“I don’t think it’s going to happen,” he said after speaking in Philadelphia where he traveled to speak at a Labor Day parade.
UAW President Shawn Fain pushed back, saying he was “shocked at that reaction.”
“He must know something we don’t know. Maybe the companies plan on walking in and giving us our demands on the night before. I don’t know, but he’s on the inside on something I don’t know about,” Fain told reporters. “Our intent is not to strike. Our intent is to get a fair agreement.”
More: Fain ‘shocked’ at Biden’s opinion that an auto strike is unlikely
mburke@detroitnews.com