Why Biden campaign will promote right-wing Project 2025 during Charlotte Copa America match
The Biden-Harris campaign will target Charlotte’s Latino voters with mobile billboards advertising a controversial right-wing proposal during Saturday’s Copa America match in uptown.
The Spanish-language billboards, which will be driven around Bank of America Stadium during Saturday’s soccer game between Uruguay and Canada, encourage people to research Project 2025, the campaign told The Charlotte Observer.
Democrats are using the controversial plan as a campaign issue and tying it to former President Donald Trump.
“Have you heard about Project 2025? Trump and his MAGA allies have a plan to attack our freedoms and our democracy,” the billboards say alongside a QR code that leads to the Biden campaign’s webpage on the issue.
They’re part of a larger effort by the Biden camp to shore up the Latino vote, including a soccer-themed campaign commercial running in North Carolina and other swing states. Polling suggests Democrats could struggle in November with Hispanic voters, North Carolina’s fastest growing population.
Biden also has faced questions in recent weeks about the viability of his campaign after his performance in the first general election debate.
What is Project 2025?
The “Project 2025 Presidential Transition Plan” was developed by the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank.
It calls for an overhaul of the executive branch, including to disband some federal departments, to reject the idea of abortion as health care, to gut efforts to combat climate change and to deploy the military to the U.S.-Mexico border.
“It is not enough for conservatives to win elections. If we are going to rescue the country from the grip of the radical Left, we need both a governing agenda and the right people in place, ready to carry this agenda out on Day One of the next conservative Administration,” the Project 2025 website says.
Trump has tried to distance himself from the plan, claiming on social media he has “no idea who is behind it.” But a CNN investigation found nearly 240 people with ties to both Project 2025 and the former president, including at least 140 people who worked in his administration.
Biden called out Project 2025 directly in his own social media post this week, saying it “will destroy America” and encourage people to research the plan.
Will Latino voters turn out for Biden?
In addition to the mobile billboards in uptown, Biden is also running a new soccer-themed ad in North Carolina and other swing states criticizing Trump for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic as part of “a seven-figure paid media blitz” tied to the Copa America tournament, his campaign said in a statement.
The ads are running on ESPN’s Spanish-language channel, ESPN Deportes, and La Liga, Politico reported, as part of an effort to ramp up outreach to the Latino community.
The campaign also hosted a watch party in Charlotte during Wednesday’s Copa America semifinal, which drew more than 70,000 to Bank of America Stadium.
Trump gained ground with Latino voters in swing states such as Florida in 2020, and polling suggests Biden could struggle with the Hispanic community in November.
About 1 in 5 Latino voters said in a national survey conducted by Florida International University in March they’re considering changing political parties or becoming an independent. Of those considering a change, 61.1% said that would mean leaving the Democratic Party, and 38.1% of those said they’d be switching to the Republican Party.
North Carolina’s Hispanic population grew by 40% from 2010 to 2020 to make up 11% of the state’s total population, according to state data. But Latino voter turnout fell in the state in 2022.
Biden’s favorability among Hispanic Americans has also fallen since 2021, according to Associated Press polling. But that doesn’t mean their support is necessarily shifting to Trump: about half of Hispanic Americans have “a somewhat or very unfavorable view of Trump,” the AP reports.
Trump leads Biden in North Carolina by a margin of 44.8% to 38.8% in recent polls, according to FiveThirtyEight’s polling averages.
This story was originally published July 12, 2024 at 10:55 AM with the headline "Why Biden campaign will promote right-wing Project 2025 during Charlotte Copa America match."
