Progressive group launches $2M pro-Biden ad buy targeting young voters

NextGen America, a progressive group aimed at mobilizing young voters, is spending $2 million on the launch of four new digital ads promoting presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden as a progressive candidate. 

NextGen is launching the ads Thursday and they will run through August. The group said it will run the 30-second ads on platforms frequented by young potential voters, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, VeVo and Hulu. 

The ads aim to make young voters enthusiastic about voting for the former vice president in the fall, NextGen America Executive Director Ben Wessel told The Hill Wednesday. 

“We know that young people don’t actually know a ton about Joe Biden, even though he’s been in politics for 50 years,” Wessel said. “The goal of these ads are to show that the policy platform he’s putting forward is very progressive and in line with what young people want to have happen in the next presidency, and that Biden is getting advice from experts and activists from within the progressive movement.

“The more motivated they are to support Biden, the more motivated they’ll be to cast a ballot,” he added. 

The ads incorporate messaging from a May-June online survey of young voters conducted by NextGen America and Global Strategy Group. The survey found the most effective messages focused on Biden’s ability to build a competent, progressive team around himself and his willingness to listen to young voters, according to NextGen. 

One of the new ads, “Team Biden,” flashes to different prominent progressive figures, including Biden’s former primary opponent Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.,) in the style of a comic book. The ad also features former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro, who also challenged Biden in the primary, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and former President Obama and his wife Michelle Obama. 

The Obamas were the top two most favorable people or groups among young voters, according to the NextGen America survey. Sanders was the fourth most favorable on the list, behind Black Lives Matter. 

Another ad, titled “Your Choice,” also features Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez and the Obamas. The ad juxtaposes the “team” of Democrats alongside Biden with a “team” of President Trump and some of his allies, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), White House advisor and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. 

A third ad, titled “A Leader who Listens” focuses solely on healthcare, and features young voters voicing support for Biden’s stance on the issue. The fourth ad is titled “A Bridge to the Next Generation,” and features clips from recent protests over police brutality and racial inequality. 

“I view myself as a bridge,” Biden is heard saying in the ad. “There’s an entire generation of leaders. They are the future of this country.” 

If elected, Biden, 77, would be the oldest president in the nation’s history. 

The new flight of ads is the second set of pro-Biden ads NextGen has launched since endorsing Biden in May. NextGen America was created in 2013 by billionaire hedge fund manager and former Democratic presidential primary candidate Tom Steyer.