Libre, part of the political network founded by the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers, will unveil a seven-figure voter engagement and advertising campaign on Monday aimed at members of Congress who have supported President Biden’s “punitive economic policies.”
The campaign, one of the group’s most extensive, includes digital ads, public events at Hispanic grocery stores and restaurants, and a new Spanish-language website criticizing “Bidenomics,” a term that conservatives have used to attack Mr. Biden’s economic policies.
Despite a series of positive economic data, including strong job growth and record unemployment, the economy has been a stubborn weakness for President Biden and Democrats, particularly among Black and Latino voters. Libre executives, who gave the New York Times a first look at the plans, said they were focused on engaging Latinos on what they say is a winning issue for Republicans at a time when their Party is trying to increase its appeal to Hispanic voters.
“Bidenomics is destroying Latino families’ savings, quality of life and ability to plan for the future,” Libre CEO Jose Mallea said in a statement. “To reverse this trend, it is important that Latino families learn the impact excessive spending and overregulation have on our nation’s economy – and prosperity.”
Libre, which describes itself as a center-right organization, said its goal is to hold lawmakers accountable for supporting policies that they say lead to high inflation and rising costs of food, utilities and other living expenses have contributed. It targets more than 20 congressional Democrats in more than a dozen states, including key presidential battlegrounds like Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania. The group launched a similar effort last year with an anti-“Bidenomics” message, but organizers said that campaign would be much larger in scope.
Latinos are expected to make up about 36.2 million eligible voters, or nearly 15 percent of the American electorate, according to the latest analysis from the Pew Research Center. Population size will be crucial in states like Nevada and Arizona, where they make up about one in four eligible voters, and Hispanic voters are also expected to play a crucial role in the fight for control of the House of Representatives.
Although Latino voters still broadly lean Democratic, former President Donald J. Trump improved his performance with the electorate in 2020, making significant gains in some areas such as South Florida and South Texas. But some Republicans have told the Associated Press that Trump has not yet followed through on his ambitious plans to woo the voting bloc this cycle. Mr Biden, on the other hand, has stepped up his efforts – trying to sharpen his own economic message after an earlier attempt to reclaim the term “Bidenomics” largely failed.
On a recent trip to Nevada and Arizona, the president championed historic investments in Latino small businesses and Hispanic-serving institutions, as well as the Biden administration’s policies that he said reduced childhood poverty among Hispanic children to record lows, the cost of drug prescriptions and the Reduced health care and combated gun violence.
Two Latin American voter groups, Somos Votantes and Somos PAC, have also come to Mr. Biden’s aid with historic investments comparable to Libre’s. The liberal organizations have committed $33 million to mobilize Hispanic voters for Mr. Biden and other key Democratic races in several battleground states. Somos Votantes plans to pour $24 million into expanding nonpartisan voter education programs.
The Libre campaign, called “BideNOmics,” targets Senate Democrats in Montana, Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin. It will focus on House members in heated contests across the country. In California, where Democrats and Republicans are locked in a battle for seats in the central and southern parts of the state, the group is targeting Reps. Josh Harder and Mike Levin. In New Mexico, their list includes Rep. Gabriel Vasquez and in Colorado, Rep. Yadira Caraveo, both of whom secured their seats in the last election cycle after defeating their Republican opponents by less than one percentage point.
A preview of one of four digital ads expected to run on social media, television and audio streaming services features a Latina blaming the president’s policies for the demise of the American dream.
“Coming to America meant an opportunity to plan one’s future,” she said. “But now, skyrocketing prices are forcing Latino families across the country to make difficult decisions, and Bidenomics is robbing us of our chance at the American dream.”
The Spanish-language website – NoBidenomics.com – criticizes the Biden administration’s policies, saying they have contributed to inflation, high national debt and high costs of living. The campaign’s community events, which began last week, will largely take place in super-mercados, or Hispanic grocery stores, where participants will hand out gift cards for groceries.
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2024-04-29 09:03:35
www.nytimes.com
