President Joe Biden’s campaign sought to troll Donald Trump and the Republican party, after buying up advertising space on major US television networks before and during Wednesday night’s GOP candidate debate.
The two 30-second ads, one of which takes aim at Mr Trump and the other targeting voters in the Latino community, will be shown simultaneously on Fox News and Univision from 9pm eastern time.
The Daily Beast was first to report on the strategic placement of the advertisments.
The debate saw seven Republican hopefuls, Vivek Ramaswamy, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, Chris Christie, Tim Scott, and Doug Bergum, take the stage.
Former president Trump again chose to skip the public debate and instead addressed workers in Michigan at a non-union automotive parts manufacturer.
One of the Biden ads being broadcast on Wednesday evening, titled “Delivers”, slams the former-president’s record with union workers and blames him for the loss of jobs within the industry.
“He says he stands with autoworkers,” a voiceover in the ad states, “but as president, Donald Trump passed tax breaks for his rich friends while automakers shuttered their plants and Michigan lost manufacturing jobs.”
It continues: “Joe Biden said he’d stand up for workers and he’s delivering. Passing laws that are increasing wages and creating good-paying jobs. Manufacturing is coming back to Michigan because Joe Biden doesn’t just talk, he delivers.”
The other commercial, targeting Latino voters, titled “The Difference”, was running on Fox, while a Spanish-language version “La Diferencia” was airing on Univision.
The short clip accuses Republicans of “working for the rich and powerful”, in contrast to the policies promoted by Mr Biden and vice-president Kamala Harris.
Donald Trump did not attend the first Republican candidate debate— (Getty Images)
“President Joe Biden is different. He’s fighting for us. He’s working to make billionaires and corporations pay their fair share,” the narrators are heard to say.
Per The Daily Beast, a senior Biden campaign official has said their strategy is to deploy the two direct contrast ads to an audience of swing voters in key battleground states.
The second Republican debate took place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, and was moderated by Dana Perino and Stuart Varney of Fox News Media and Ilia Calderón of Univision.
