With 10 days to go before the candidates for president face off in the first debate, President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign launched a new $50 million ad campaign on Monday with a spot that focuses on former President Donald Trump’s conviction last month on 34 felony counts.
Titled “Character Matters,” the ad refers to Trump as “a convicted criminal who’s only out for himself,” comparing him to Biden, a “president who is fighting for your family.”
A screen capture from the new Biden campaign ad “Character Matters.”
Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler said in a statement that Trump “will do absolutely anything for his own personal gain and for his own power,” adding “His entire campaign is an exercise in revenge and retribution.”
After his conviction on 34 felony counts in New York, Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11, days before the Republican National Convention kicks off in Milwaukee. The new Biden campaign ad, which will run on general market television in battleground states and on national cable is the first time the Biden campaign is taking direct aim at Trump’s conviction.
A pro-Trump super PAC ran an ad campaign in Pennsylvania in April critical of the Biden administration’s immigration policies. The ad ran the same week Biden visited Pennsylvania, campaigning in Scranton, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, ahead of the state’s April 23 primary.
The Trump campaign did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Monday.
Trump is scheduled to appear in Philadelphia on Saturday for a rally at the Liacouras Center on Temple University’s campus. “President Trump will highlight how Biden’s weak presidency is devastating American families, which is why only 34 percent of Pennsylvanians approve of the job Joe Biden is doing,” Trump’s campaign said in a statement Friday announcing the rally.
The visit will be Trump’s fourth to Pennsylvania in 2024 and his second to Philadelphia this year. He spoke in February to a National Rifle Association gathering in Harrisburg, and announced a new line of Trump-branded sneakers in Philadelphia at SneakerCon that same month. Trump held a rally in the Lehigh Valley in April, his most recent visit to Pennsylvania.
Biden has made eight appearances in Pennsylvania so far this year, visiting Philadelphia with Vice President Kamala in late May to announce the launch of Black Voters for Biden-Harris at Girard College. The majority of Biden’s visits to Pennsylvania have been in the southeastern part of the state, a heavily Democratic region.
Polls in Pennsylvania have shown Trump has a slight lead over Biden for the state’s 19 electoral votes. A June 12 Marist poll showed Trump leading Biden by 2 points in Pennsylvania.
In the 2020 election, Biden beat Trump in Pennsylvania by just over 80,000 votes.
Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and X.
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