Pro-Trump spending group plans $100 million ad blitz in US battleground states

[June 06, 2024]  By Alexandra Ulmer
 
(Reuters) - A major spending group backing Republican Donald Trump brought in nearly $70 million in donations last month and plans to spend $100 million in advertising over the summer across U.S. election battleground states, according to a memo sent to donors and seen by Reuters.  

Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump attends a press conference, the day after a guilty verdict in his criminal trial over charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, at Trump Tower in New York City, U.S., May 31, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

The June 4 memo, written by MAGA Inc. CEO Taylor Budowich, detailed the super PAC's plans in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada and Arizona - all states Trump lost in 2020 to U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, but where some polls show Trump leading before the Nov. 5 election.

Budowich highlighted the swing state of Georgia in particular as the "best gateway" for Trump to win the U.S. electoral college, which allots electoral votes to the 50 states and the District of Columbia largely based on their population.

The group said it would work to limit Biden's paths to victory in the presidential election both geographically and demographically.

The memo honed in on what it said was an increase in Trump's approval rating among Black voters, Hispanic men voters and white suburban women voters.

"This shift is not only statistically significant, but it also presents an existential crisis for Team Biden," the memo said.

Biden is hemorrhaging support among voters without college degrees - a large group that includes Black people, Hispanic women, young voters and suburban women, Reuters/Ipsos polling

revealed earlier this month.

The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

MAGA Inc.'s May haul highlights Trump's renewed fundraising strength after setting out with a financial disadvantage against Biden.

Trump for the first time in April outraised his Democratic rival, aided by a flurry of big-dollar fundraising events across the country. Major Republican donors have also rallied behind Trump following his conviction last week in a New York hush money case, pledging millions of dollars to support the first convicted felon to run for U.S. president.

Trump's campaign and the Republican National Committee said on Monday they had raised $141 million in May, nearly doubling the prior month's haul.

(Reporting by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Deepa Babington)

[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.