Pro-Harris super PAC to invest heavily in ads targeting women on abortion in swing states
A major Democratic super PAC is investing heavily in abortion messaging in battleground states.
American Bridge 21st Century released its latest round of TV and digital ads on Thursday — airing in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan and backed by $15 million buy — focused entirely on contrasting Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump on abortion. The ads, exclusively obtained by POLITICO, hammer Trump for nominating the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade.
It’s the latest evidence that Democrats are prioritizing abortion as a top issue for Harris, who forcefully attacked Trump over his positions on it at Tuesday’s debate. Earlier this year, American Bridge officials said their ads would cover the economy and democracy, as well as abortion, but “right now, with Trump and [JD] Vance, abortion has come back to the forefront and it’s a very comfortable [issue] for Harris, who has a stellar record on it,” said Bradley Beychok, co-founder of American Bridge, pointing to Trump's refusal during the debate to commit to vetoing a national abortion ban.
“We’ve been pretty consistent that we’re going to talk about abortion, democracy and freedom, which is a campaign-in-a-box that’s won a lot of elections,” Beychok continued. “We’ve won a lot of elections talking about abortion and talking about taking away freedoms, so we’re not going to be able to say it enough.”
The new round of ads are targeting white women who live in exurban and suburban areas in those three swing states. This group is a critical voting bloc for Harris. It’s also a demographic American Bridge targeted with its 2020 efforts, when it dropped $62 million into TV and digital ads to boost President Joe Biden. In 2024, American Bridge announced it would spend $140 million throughout the cycle.
The ads feature direct-to-camera appeals from swing-state women, who urge voters that America “can’t go back” to the Trump era. One ad airing in Michigan is narrated by Anna, an OB-GYN, who had an abortion when “the child I wanted and loved had a devastating diagnosis.”
“Politicians like Donald Trump have no right to make that medical decision for me and my family,” she said in the ad. “Kamala Harris believes it’s women — and not politicians — who should be making their own health care decisions.”
In another ad airing in Pennsylvania, Susan, a nurse practitioner, said Trump “seems dedicated to taking us backwards,” adding that she “can’t imagine what he’s thinking when he says he wants to punish women who have had an abortion.”
The contrast ads echo the abortion-focused ads coming from the Harris campaign, which has feature women talking about their own experiences with abortion in a post-Roe world.
