President Trump’s reelection campaign has secured a massive television ad buy for the final stretch of the presidential race in six battleground states where he has fallen behind in recent polls.
The Trump campaign purchased $95.3 million of television ad space on Monday, pre-booking broadcast times from Sept. 8 through Election Day. This was Trump’s biggest single spending day this cycle, the data firm Advertising Analytics said.
The buy targets Arizona, Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. Trump won all six states in 2016.
The Trump campaign said it was spending widely in its bid to defeat presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
“We are spending all over the place,” a senior campaign official told the Washington Examiner. “Joe Biden would like us to make the same mistake Hillary Clinton made in 2016 and take certain states for granted. We won’t. And the president has raised considerable resources — enough to take the fight to Joe Biden in states he should be able to count on but can’t.”
Florida accounts for about one-third of the total spend, at $32 million, with $12 million dedicated to the Tampa market alone.
In Ohio, a state Trump won by 8 points in 2016, the campaign booked $18.4 million, with the majority divided across the Columbus and Cleveland television markets, according to NBC News.
The campaign has reserved $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania market, targeting Philadelphia, $15.8 million in North Carolina, with more than half the amount going to Charlotte and Raleigh, $7.4 million in Wisconsin, and $5.2 million in Arizona, solely in the Phoenix market.
The campaign also purchased television ad space for the first time this week in Georgia, including in Atlanta.
Trump’s plan for a fall messaging offensive comes amid new advances by Biden in public polls.
In Florida, Biden leads Trump by 9 points with registered voters surveyed between June 20-23 by Fox News.
Biden leads in several states where the Trump campaign secured ad space, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll. Among registered voters surveyed between June 8-18, Biden leads by 6 points in Florida, 7 points in Arizona, 11 points in Wisconsin, 10 points in Pennsylvania, and 9 points in North Carolina.
Trump, who returned to the campaign trail this month with two indoor rallies, is also under fire for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic as cases surge in Southern states.
