President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign hit former President Donald Trump on his manufacturing and auto industry records in an ad debuting ahead of Trump’s speech to autoworkers in Michigan on Wednesday.
“He says he stands with autoworkers. But as president, Donald Trump passed tax breaks for his rich friends, while automakers shuttered their plants and Michigan lost manufacturing jobs,” the ad titled “Delivers” said.
The ad — which showed Trump playing golf, cut with footage of Biden meeting with and speaking to workers — will air on national television and digital platforms in Michigan. Specifically, it will run in Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Lansing.
It is part of the Biden campaign’s $25 million 16-week ad campaign that targets voters in battleground states. The advertising campaign also includes what has been the largest and earliest amount spent by a reelection campaign in Hispanic and black media markets.
“Joe Biden said he’d stand up for workers, and he’s delivering. Passing laws that are increasing wages and creating good-paying jobs. Manufacturing is coming back to Michigan because Joe Biden doesn’t just talk, he delivers,” the ad continued.
“More empty promises in Michigan or anywhere else can’t erase Donald Trump’s egregious failures and broken promises to America’s workers,” Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz said. “He can’t hide his anti-labor, anti-jobs record from the countless American workers he’s let down. This election will be a choice between President Biden’s real advocacy for working Americans and a rerun of billionaire Donald Trump’s broken promises to the middle class.”
The ad comes a day after Biden made history by joining the striking United Auto Workers on the picket line in Michigan. “Folks, stick with it. You deserve the significant raise you need and other benefits. Let’s get back what we lost. We saved them, and it’s about time they step up for us,” he told workers on Tuesday.
The 30-second spot also precedes Trump’s evening speech in Michigan, where he will address current and former UAW workers. The former president will pin the UAW’s struggle for wages on Biden’s energy and economic policies, specifically inflation and electric vehicle promotion.
Following Biden’s trip to the picket line, Trump’s campaign released a statement: “This is nothing more than a [public relations] stunt from Crooked Joe Biden to distract and gaslight the American people from his disastrous Bidenomics policies that have led to so much economic misery across the country.”
“The fact is that President Trump will be the nominee and will beat Biden because he’s the only person who can supercharge the economy, secure our border, and safeguard our communities. Americans want to return to a prosperous nation, and there’s only one person who can do that — President Trump,” the statement continued.
The back-and-forth between Biden and Trump, particularly over Rust Belt workers, has taken center stage as blue-collar workers and noncollege-educated voters make up an increasingly large part of the Republican base.
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Political scientists suggested Biden’s impromptu trip to the picket line was forced by Trump’s plans to speak to workers, but the White House denied this.
They also indicated that unions, which have long been considered safe Democratic territory, are now something of a jumpball politically. Trump’s attempt to seize on the moment and court disillusioned workers forces Biden to stake his claim in the important voting bloc.
