Pro-Trump super PAC America First Action kicks off $22 million ad blitz in swing states

The tactics by America First Action mirror a message Trump himself has been blasting out on Twitter and through his campaign. 

On Tuesday, the president called the protesters “thugs” and blamed the unrest on “Democrat run cities.”

A Real Clear Politics polling average shows Biden ahead of Trump by 7 points nationally. A recent CNBC/ Change Research poll shows Biden ahead of Trump in Florida, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. 

With Trump trailing in several polls, the campaign has been lacking in air time in some of the states America First Action is looking to make an impact. 

Data from Advertising Analytics shows that the Trump campaign has pushed some of his fall ad buys in Pennsylvania and Ohio, which were supposed to air this week, until next week.

The PAC is spending $6.5 million combined in Pennsylvania and Ohio as part of this ad buy alone. 

Last week, the Trump campaign did not spend on ads targeting voters in those two states, while Biden’s team made investments over that same time period. 

Meanwhile, America First Action has been under scrutiny by Republican donors for not doing enough while Trump lags, including in the wake of Biden’s announcement that he and the Democratic National Committee raised a record shattering $364 million in August.

“Biden’s mushrooming war chest puts more pressure on America First Action to step up to the plate and pick up the slack,” Dan Eberhart, a longtime longtime Republican Trump donor, told CNBC on Tuesday. “America First Action is running out of time. They need to provide air support for Trump and they need to do it sooner rather than later.”  Eberhart gave $100,000 to the Trump Victory committee in June. 

Records provided to CNBC by the PAC show that it is on track to have its best quarter of 2020. It raised over $21 million in August and a notch above $8 million so far in September. 

Still, the criticism against America First has led to the creation of a new pro-Trump super PAC, Preserve America. It’s being led by Chris LaCivita, a GOP strategist who who put together the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth effort against John Kerry’s 2004 presidential race.

Preserve America moved ahead with a $30 million ad blitz just after its recent launch. 

America First’s Walsh shrugged off the critics and cheered on the creation of the new super PAC, telling CNBC: “We welcome allies.” 

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/09/pro-trump-super-pac-america-first-action-runs-new-ads-against-joe-biden.html