President Biden’s reelection campaign released an ad Friday that focuses on courting supporters of Republican Nikki Haley while also bashing former President Trump for pushing away her backers.
The ad, first reported by The Washington Post, is a 30-second spot that includes the various times Trump has criticized Haley, including calling her “birdbrain” and “not presidential material.”
“If you voted for Nikki Haley, Donald Trump doesn’t want your vote,” the ad reads.
“Haley supporters ‘will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp,’” it says, quoting Trump in a January post on Truth Social.
The ad also includes clips of Trump saying he isn’t sure he needs too many Haley voters, and that he doesn’t need more votes to win back the White House in November.
“Save America. Join us,” the ad says.
The campaign is spending more than $1 million on the ad, which will run for three weeks in battleground states, according to the Post. It’s part of the $30 million ad buy that the campaign announced after the president’s State of the Union address to target the seven battleground states that are critical to Biden’s reelection bid.
The campaign also released a statement earlier this week claiming Trump doesn’t want Haley voters, adding that Trump has been clear that voters who aren’t part of the “MAGA disciple” aren’t welcome in his camp.
“Trump Outreach to Haley Voters: Nonexistent,” the campaign argued in an email. “Donald Trump doesn’t want moderate, independent, or Haley voters.”
The campaign also noted that Trump hasn’t called Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, since she dropped out. Haley did not endorse the former president when she left the race the day after Super Tuesday.
The campaign has claimed from the day Haley dropped out that Trump isn’t interested in appealing to her voters. The Biden-Harris team see an opening to court those those Republicans into the Biden camp and argue that Trump is driving them away.
“Donald Trump made it clear he doesn’t want Nikki Haley’s supporters. I want to be clear: There is a place for them in my campaign,” Biden said in a statement March 6.