Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
POLITICO
Pro-Harris super PAC to invest heavily in ads targeting women on abortion in swing states
By Elena Schneider,
10 hours ago
Former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (from left), Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Sen. Amy Klobuchar help kick off a national "Reproductive Freedom Bus Tour" by the Harris-Walz campaign. | Rebecca Blackwell/AP
A major Democratic super PAC is investing heavily in abortion messaging in battleground states.
American Bridge 21st Century released its latest round of TV and digital ads on Thursday — airing in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan and backed by $15 million buy — focused entirely on contrasting Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump on abortion. The ads, exclusively obtained by POLITICO, hammer Trump for nominating the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade.
It’s the latest evidence that Democrats are prioritizing abortion as a top issue for Harris, who forcefully attacked Trump over his positions on it at Tuesday’s debate. Earlier this year, American Bridge officials said their ads would cover the economy and democracy, as well as abortion, but “right now, with Trump and [JD] Vance, abortion has come back to the forefront and it’s a very comfortable [issue] for Harris, who has a stellar record on it,” said Bradley Beychok, co-founder of American Bridge, pointing to Trump's refusal during the debate to commit to vetoing a national abortion ban .
“We’ve been pretty consistent that we’re going to talk about abortion, democracy and freedom, which is a campaign-in-a-box that’s won a lot of elections,” Beychok continued. “We’ve won a lot of elections talking about abortion and talking about taking away freedoms, so we’re not going to be able to say it enough.”
Vice President Kamala Harris makes a surprise appearance at a Harris-Walz Debate Watch Party at Cherry Street Pier after her debate with Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump in Philadelphia, on Sept. 10, 2024. | Jamie Kelter Davis for POLITICO
The new round of ads are targeting white women who live in exurban and suburban areas in those three swing states. This group is a critical voting bloc for Harris. It’s also a demographic American Bridge targeted with its 2020 efforts, when it dropped $62 million into TV and digital ads to boost President Joe Biden. In 2024, American Bridge announced it would spend $140 million throughout the cycle.
The ads feature direct-to-camera appeals from swing-state women, who urge voters that America “can’t go back” to the Trump era. One ad airing in Michigan is narrated by Anna, an OB-GYN, who had an abortion when “the child I wanted and loved had a devastating diagnosis.”
“Politicians like Donald Trump have no right to make that medical decision for me and my family,” she said in the ad. “Kamala Harris believes it’s women — and not politicians — who should be making their own health care decisions.”
In another ad airing in Pennsylvania , Susan, a nurse practitioner, said Trump “seems dedicated to taking us backwards,” adding that she “can’t imagine what he’s thinking when he says he wants to punish women who have had an abortion.”
The contrast ads echo the abortion-focused ads coming from the Harris campaign, which has feature women talking about their own experiences with abortion in a post- Roe world.
There’s more people in the United States that doesn’t care about the abortions. They’re just worried about how they’re gonna get to their next meal pay their bills.
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.