The ordained big-money outside group supporting President Biden’s reelection has hired two veterans of his 2020 campaign to lead a new Latino advertising effort, as it blankets swing states with early television spots that echo the Biden campaign’s own fall television strategy.
Future Forward USA Action, a nonprofit group with an associated super PAC closely tied to White House aides, will launch new ads in Nevada, Arizona and Pennsylvania this month as part of a campaign helmed by Cristóbal Alex, a former senior adviser to Biden’s 2020 campaign, and Pili Tobar, the 2020 campaign’s director of coalitions.
The group, which can raise money in unlimited amounts from wealthy Biden supporters, plans to spend more than $1 million on the first spots, in English and Spanish versions, that focus on Biden’s bipartisan approach and policy accomplishments.
That will come on top of the $14 million in ads supporting Biden that the group has placed this month, according to the media tracking firm Ad Analytics. The group has become the third-largest advertising spender in the presidential race so far, behind groups focused on the Republican nomination fight for former president Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.
“Latinos are a key part of the governing coalition in the Biden-Harris administration,” Alex, who founded the Latino Victory Fund and later worked in the Biden White House, said in a statement. “Our program will reach these Latinos where they are, discuss the issues that matter to the Latino community, and focus on President Biden delivering for hard-working people.”
The current Future Forward effort is being paid for through a nonprofit vehicle that does not disclose its donors. But that is expected to change over the coming year as the group shifts to spending through a PAC, which can expressly advocate for Biden’s election and the defeat of his Republican opponents.
Future Forward arrived as a force in politics in September 2020 and became the third-largest funder of advertising in the 2020 presidential general election, with $118 million in spending, behind only the campaigns of Biden and Donald Trump, according to Ad Analytics. Top donors included Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, Twilio founder Jeff Lawson and his wife Erica and executives with the now-defunct crypto firm FTX. The group is run by Chauncey McLean, a veteran of the 2012 Obama reelection campaign.
Biden’s top White House political advisers, Anita Dunn and Jen O’Malley Dillon, have publicly signaled to donors that the president supports Future Forward’s efforts this year, while other outside groups like American Bridge and Priorities USA are also expected to play roles supporting Biden with separate advertising efforts. Katie Petrelius, who was finance director for Biden’s 2020 campaign, recently joined Future Forward to help raise money for the group.
“The Latino outreach that the group is going to be doing is part and parcel of what Joe Biden has always fought for,” said Tom Perez, another senior White House adviser to Biden and former chair of the Democratic National Committee. “Democracy is on the ballot for everyone. The demonization of so many immigrants, including but not limited to Latino immigrants, is a huge part of the hard-right agenda.”
The Future Forward spending includes ads now running in swing states with testimonials from employers and workers about how Biden’s presidency is bringing home manufacturing and lifting the economy. The content and style of the ads closely mirror a concurrent $25 million effort by the Biden campaign, with support from the Democratic National Committee.
The goal, say officials involved in the latter effort, is to take advantage of the Republican focus on the GOP’s nomination fight by advertising unopposed in swing states. The ads are focused on casting Biden as an active and vibrant leader — an image often missing from press coverage — while educating voters about the details of his legislative accomplishments.
The Spanish-language Future Forward Latino-focused ad will run in Pennsylvania, while the English version will run in Nevada and Arizona.
The group tends to produce and test about 10 different ads for every spot it releases, according to a person involved in the effort who was not authorized to speak publicly. About 26 different variations of other Future Forward ads have been placed on the airwaves so far this month, according to Ad Analytics.
“Whether it’s in English, Spanish, or Spanglish, we’ll be communicating about the Biden administration’s accomplishments,” Tobar said.
