Biden Campaign Turns to the NFL and Liga MX to Debut New ‘Spanglish’ Ad to Mark Hispanic Heritage Month (Exclusive)

he Biden campaign is launching a new "Spanglish" TV and digital ad with a six-figure investment across seven critical battleground states that will air alongside Sunday Night Football on Telemundo and Liga MX soccer on Univision, The Messenger has learned exclusively. The ad is timed to the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month, which starts today, and is part of a larger campaign rollout over the coming days and weeks. The ads arrive at a time when there are persistent questions on where Democrats stand with Latino voters — particularly men — a narrative the Biden campaign is aware of and trying to address much earlier in the cycle than in 2020. The ad titled "For Us," which will air across broadcast TV in Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Philadelphia media markets, will also launch alongside soccer content online, like ESPN Deportes. It also will run on top-performing digital bilingual platforms popular with Latinos such as YouTube and YouTube TV, and local Latino-owned media properties in those markets. The campaign's first Spanish-language ad already ran on Telemundo during the NFL's opening weekend when the Dallas Cowboys trounced the New York Giants and the new ad will run during the first week of October. It will also run during the Super Clasico featuring Club America vs. Guadalajara. In addition, the ad will also run digitally in Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia and North Carolina. The 15-second ad has a clear message, which is that President Joe Biden's programs are tailor-made for Latinos, which is why Hispanic-owned businesses are the fastest growing in the nation, while student debt is dropping. It also interlaces Spanish and English within the same sentence, better known as Spanglish, which can have plenty of detractors, but political experts see as a way of getting the attention of Hispanics who know at least some Spanish, and speaking to them in a more authentic way they might be comfortable with. "Porque Joe Biden doesn't fight for los ricos," the ad says of the rich at the end. "He fights for us." 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"As we enter Hispanic Heritage Month, this ad is the first of many ways we will be emphasizing the President’s commitment to our community with real action," Casado said. President Joe Biden, speaking at a Hispanic Heritage Month event during the 2020 campaign, will again need the backing of Latino voters for his reelection. Nuestro PAC, an outside group started after Sen. Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, looks to boost Joe Biden by reaching Latino voters early and often, but Democrats are wary of slippage with Hispanic men, an important part of their coalition.Drew Angerer/Getty Images The campaign's Adrian Saenz, who is leading ads in English and Spanish aimed at Latinos, has been calling the strategy "football y futbol" internally, and it is clearly aimed squarely at reaching the Latino men Democrats have seen peel away from the party in recent cycles. But Saenz said the intended audience is larger than just one part of the Hispanic community. "It's aimed at Latino men, but is not limited to them," he told The Messenger. "It's aimed at Latino men and younger Latinos who are consuming that kind of content, particularly on the digital side. There will continue to be a focus on Latino men, but because of the size and youth of the population it is also important that we’re speaking to these young voters." Maria Cardona, a longtime CNN commentator and Democratic spokesperson, said it was "really strategic" for the Biden campaign to begin doing outreach to Latino men at this early juncture in the presidential cycle because they are one of the most important voting blocs. "They are the ones out there who are probably a little more skeptical of what Biden has done for them. They're really focused on the economy, and might not mind the harsh rhetoric that comes from Donald Trump so I think it's smart for the campaign to be doing this now," she said. Kristian Ramos, a Latino vote expert and Democratic consultant, who on Thursday spoke to a group about reaching Hispanic voters, said one of his examples to them was comparing Hollywood superhero movies "Across the Spiderverse" and "Blue Beetle," and how both tackled presenting Latino and multi-racial characters to a broad audience. He gave the campaign plaudits for the "Spanglish" ad, because when you're speaking to Hispanic voters, he said, you're talking to a multi-racial, multi-generational, and multi-lingual group where some speak English, some speak Spanish, and some are a combination. "First generation Latinos just speak Spanish, whereas 4th or 5th generation like myself speak English, but in between the bulk of the people in this country, that's where you want to use Spanglish," he explained. "Latinos want to be marketed to within the American diaspora. Think about it, on the bus you hear different languages — it just has to sound organic." The ads and coming Hispanic Heritage Month rollout come after a post-Labor Day New York Times analysis of polls over the last year showed Biden underperforming against Trump with nonwhite voters in a hypothetical general election matchup, leading just 53% to 28%, a 17% point drop in support from 2020 at this early juncture. While Democrats and Biden allies are sensitive to the narrative that his Latino support is soft and often believe it is overblown in the media, the Times piece sent shudders through Latino Democrats as well as the often-White leaders and funders of the party who know their base must hold to win in 2024. "Biden didn't ramp up his Spanish-language advertising until just a few months before the 2020 election," said Giancarlo Sopo, a Republican operative who led Trump's Hispanic advertising in 2020 but now supports Gov. Ron DeSantis. "His team's decision to launch this early is recognition by the Biden campaign that they really need to shore up their Hispanic support ahead of next year’s elections because when you look at the polling their minority numbers are not where they should be." But Cardona took a different view. She served under former DNC chair Ron Brown, who created the party's first Hispanic media role in 1989, tapping Cardona. With more than three decades watching the party succeed — and swing and miss — when it comes to Latinos, she said the Biden campaign is doing something unprecedented when it comes to early outreach to the Hispanic community. "Doing this for 30 years, I've said Democrats should be doing more or doing it earlier, so believe when I tell you that this is as early and as bold an effort of one connected, massive investment I've seen in any presidential campaign for the Latino community and it speaks volumes to how seriously they are taking the Latino vote," she said. "Hispanic History is American History" Supporters wait to hear Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speak at the East Las Vegas Cominity Center about the effects of Covid-19 on Latinos, October 9, 2020, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Supporters wait to hear candidate Joe Biden speak at the East Las Vegas Community Center about the effects of Covid-19 on Latinos, October 9, 2020, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images To that end, the campaign is rolling out a robust outreach plan tied to Hispanic Heritage Month shared first with The Messenger that includes a kickoff DNC stakeholder call with chairman Jamie Harrison and Biden campaign advisory board members on Thursday; a new "Cafecito con Joe" weekly bilingual newsletter launching today; the official relaunch of the "Con Biden" diaspora groups at a Biden campaign and DNC round table with group leaders, as well as virtual bilingual bootcamps previously reported by The Messenger. The campaign will also have a strong presence from its most senior voices at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute convention in Washington next week, with campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez set to give remarks on a panel about Latino voter engagement, Vice President Harris speaking at a special conversation on issues of importance to young Latinos, and Biden giving a speech at the group's gala on Thursday. “Hispanic Heritage Month is an opportunity to come together and celebrate our community’s rich diversity, culture, and contributions to our country," Chávez Rodríguez told The Messenger. "From the activists fighting on behalf of La Causa to the frontline workers who powered our country through a pandemic, Latinos continue to leave an indelible mark on the cultural fabric and history of this nation — Hispanic history is American history." She added that while Biden’s economic agenda has led the unemployment rate for Hispanics to reach near historic lows and Latinos now have better access than ever to affordable health insurance, MAGA Republicans are "attacking our hard-fought freedoms." "As we head into Hispanic Heritage Month, we acknowledge the work ahead to expand economic opportunity and protect our freedoms," she concluded. The early approach to engaging and reaching Latino men speaks to Chuck Rocha, the self-described "Mexican Redneck," and a former senior advisor for Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, who has been outspoken about Democratic campaigns moving away from knowing how to speak to Hispanic men who come from working-class backgrounds like himself. When the Philadelphia Phillies made it to last year's World Series, Rocha worked with the Senate Majority PAC to stealthily place ads on the only Spanish-language simulcast on radio stations in eastern Pennsylvania to aid John Fetterman towards the end of the 2022 campaign and boost him with Latino men. Similarly, Rocha said the Biden campaign is taking a smart approach early on. "Shoring up and starting to communicate with Latinos early and often is never a bad strategy and if you’re buying sporting events and talking about what Biden has done to help country it's two birds with one stone," Rocha said. "It's a long election, so it's never too early to start communicating with a demographic that is so persuadable." For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.