Libre, part of the political network created by the billionaire industrialists Koch brothers, is set to unveil a seven-figure voter engagement effort and advertising campaign on Monday targeting lawmakers who have supported President Biden’s “punitive economic policies.”
The campaign, one of the most expansive the group has undertaken, includes digital advertising, public events at Hispanic grocery stores and restaurants and a term conservatives have adopted to attack Mr. Biden’s economic policies: “Bidenomics.” A new Spanish-language website will be included to criticize. .
Despite continued positive economic data, including strong job growth and record unemployment rates, the economy has been a stubborn weakness for President Biden and the Democratic Party, especially with Black and Latino voters. Libre’s leaders, who gave a preview of the plan to The New York Times, said they are focused on attracting Latinos, whom they believe is a winnable issue for Republicans as they try to increase their appeal to Hispanic voters.
“Videnomics is destroying Latino families’ ability to save, quality of life, and plan for their future,” Libre CEO Jose Mallea said in a statement. “To reverse this trend, it is important for Latino families to learn how overspending and overregulation affect our country’s economy and prosperity.”
Libre, which describes itself as a center-right organization, said its goal is to hold lawmakers accountable for supporting policies it believes have contributed to high inflation and rising costs of food, utilities and other living expenses. It targets more than 20 Democratic lawmakers in more than a dozen states, including key presidential battlegrounds such as Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania. The group made a similar effort last year with an anti-“Bidenomics” message, but organizers said this campaign would be much larger in scope.
Latino voters are expected to number about 36.2 million, or nearly 15% of the U.S. electorate, according to a recent analysis by the Pew Research Center. In states like Nevada and Arizona, where they account for one in four eligible voters, this demographic is critical, and Hispanic voters are also expected to play a decisive role in the battle for control of the House of Representatives.
Although Latino voters still lean Democratic overall, former President Donald J. Trump improved his performance by increasing the number of voters in 2020, making significant gains in some areas, such as South Florida and South Texas. But some Republicans told The Associated Press that they have yet to see Trump deliver on his ambitious plans to save the election this cycle. Mr. Biden, on the other hand, has gone further and has sought to sharpen his economic message after an initial push to reclaim the term “videnomics” largely fell flat.
On his recent trip to Nevada and Arizona, the President advocated for historic investments in Latino small businesses and Hispanic-serving organizations, reduced Hispanic child poverty to record lows, lowered drug prescriptions and health care costs, and addressed gun violence.
Two Latino voter groups, Somos Votantes and Somos PAC, also helped Mr. Biden with historic investments similar to Libre. Liberal groups have earmarked $33 million to mobilize Hispanic voters for Mr. Biden and other key Democratic primaries in several battleground states. Somos Votantes plans to invest $24 million to expand nonpartisan voter education programs.
The Libre campaign, titled “BideNOmics,” targets Senate Democrats in Montana, Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin. It focuses on House of Representatives candidates who are competing in heated races across the country. In California, where Democrats and Republicans are competing for seats in the central and southern parts of the state, they are targeting Reps. Josh Harder and Mike Levin. Those on the list include Rep. Gabriel Vasquez of New Mexico and Rep. Yadira Caraveo of Colorado, both of whom won their seats last cycle by defeating their Republican opponents by less than 1 percentage point. I did.
A preview of one of four digital ads expected to run on social media, television and audio streaming services features a Latina woman blaming the president’s policies for ending the American dream.
“Coming to the United States represented an opportunity to plan my future,” she said. “But now Latino families across the country are being forced to make difficult choices because of soaring costs, and bidenomics is robbing us of the opportunity to achieve the American dream.”
The Spanish-language website NoBidenomics.com criticizes Biden administration policies for contributing to inflation, high national debt and high costs of living. The campaign’s community events, which began last week, will primarily be held at Super Mercados or Hispanic grocery stores, and participants will hand out food gift cards.
