Super PAC backing Biden plots foray into early primary and caucus states

The super PAC backing former Vice President Joe Biden’s (D) presidential bid is expanding its reach across the early primary and caucus states as the White House hopefuls set their sights beyond the Iowa caucuses. 

The super PAC, Unite the Country, announced on Tuesday that it is preparing to invest $900,000 on a television and digital ad campaign in New Hampshire ahead of the Granite State’s primary election next week. 

The group said that it has also begun targeted communications to African American and Latino voters in Nevada, and will soon move into South Carolina with radio and digital advertisements.

The expansion comes as the field of Democratic presidential hopefuls ramp up their efforts in the other early primary states following the Iowa caucuses on Monday. The outcome of the caucuses remains up in the air after technical difficulties with an app used to report totals forced the Iowa Democratic Party to delay the results.

Still, partial results released Tuesday evening show Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg vying for the top spot in Iowa, with Biden trailing further behind. 

However, Biden leads the pack in many polls nationally, as well as in Nevada and South Carolina, the third and fourth states to vote in the Democratic nominating contest. He’s banking on strong finishes in both of those states to power his presidential campaign into March, when most delegates will be up for grabs.

Biden holds a particularly wide lead in the primary field among African American voters that could help propel him to a top finish in South Carolina, where a majority of the Democratic electorate is black. 

Mark Doyle, a former Biden aide who chairs the board of Unite the Country, suggested that the first two early voting states – Iowa and New Hampshire – are more difficult for Biden to perform well in because the former vice president’s base of support is broader than the electorates there.

“Joe Biden’s entire story is one of bringing Americans together and getting things done,” Doyle said. “We fully understand the first two states on the primary calendar work against candidates whose base of support comes from the breadth of the Democratic electorate, but we plan to aggressively tell our story in each of the next three states.”