Bloomberg’s gun control group spends $15M on campaigns in eight swing states

Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control organization funded by Michael Bloomberg, announced Thursday it is spending $15 million on a digital ad campaign in eight swing states to help boost former Vice President Joe Biden and Democrats in competitive Senate races. 

The ad blitz is the opening salvo of the $60 million it has pledged to spend during the 2020 campaign. The targeted states are Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas.

Florida, where the group will spend $5 million, is the only state where Everytown is advertising in the presidential contest. The group is also spending $1.5 million in the North Carolina Senate race to unseat Sen. Thom Tillis (R) and $1.25 million each in the Arizona and Iowa Senate races.

Another $3.5 million is going toward targeting six House races in Texas, and $500,000 is being invested on behalf of Rep. Lucy McBath (D) in Georgia, who used to work as a spokesperson for the group and whose son was killed by gun violence.

Everytown is spending on state legislature races in all eight states.

“Gun safety has gone from a political third rail to the first thing many voters think about when they step into the voting booth,” John Feinblatt, head of Everytown, said in a press release. “Everytown is going all-in to make sure voters in battleground states know exactly where the candidates stand on this life-or-death issue.”

“As we head into the final stretch to November, this investment will allow us to meet voters where they are — and we’re going there earlier and better than our opponents,” added Charlie Kelly, a senior political adviser to the group.

The group, which is spending double what it doled out in the 2018 midterms, is looking to build on success from Virginia’s 2017 and 2019 races, when Everytown spent heavily to help elect Gov. Ralph Northam and helped win Democrats control of both chambers of the state legislature.

Everytown’s push to support candidates who support gun control also comes as the National Rifle Association’s political power is waning amid internal strife. The 2018 midterm cycle was the first time gun control organizations collectively outspent the NRA in federal elections. 

The investiture comes as Democrats feel confident in their ability to win both the White House and the Senate, with polls showing former Vice President Joe Biden leading President Trump in key swing states and a number of Democratic challengers outraising Republican Senate incumbents.