Liam Conner
On the second anniversary of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, the Biden campaign released a new digital ad that attacks former President Donald Trump over gun control.
“We honor those we lost in Uvalde,” says the text ad that appears on a black screen. As “Ave Maria” plays, the text continues, and an altar in memory of the 19 children and two teachers in the 2022 massacre appears and then transitions to photos of President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden visiting Uvalde shortly afterward.
“Joe Biden has expanded background checks and is fighting to ban assault weapons,” it reads.
In a video of a mouth speaking, the words “Donald Trump did nothing to keep us safe” appear.
The ad ends with a final image of the Bidens at a Uvalde memorial and the words: “I will never forget, I will never stop fighting.”
The 30-second ad is part of the campaign’s seven-figure media ad buy for May targeting Latino voters. It will air in the swing states of Arizona, Pennsylvania and Nevada and will also include Spanish subtitles.
This is Uvalde’s announcement:
“No family should have to go through the pain and trauma that families in Uvalde will continue to experience for the rest of their lives,” Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Biden-Harris campaign manager, said in a statement. “As guns continue to be the number one cause of death for young people in America, President Biden and Vice President Harris understand the urgency of this crisis and have brought together bipartisan leaders to take historic action to combat gun violence.”
It’s the latest effort by the Biden campaign to reach Hispanic voters in key states where Latino voters are expected to play a critical role in determining the outcome of the November election.
In 2020, President Biden won Arizona by less than 11,000 votes. This year, one in four Arizona voters will be Latino. The latest CBS poll shows that Biden is currently 5 points behind Trump.
With six months until the election, the Biden campaign has intensified its attacks on Trump.
On the same day as the launch of the Uvalde ad, the campaign also launched a new TV commercial narrated by actor Robert De Niro. The “Snapped” ad, which will run in swing states, focuses on Trump’s previous presidency as Biden’s campaign aims to turn voters away from his political rival.
“We knew Trump was out of control when he was president,” the ad says. “Then he lost the 2020 election and broke out.” A series of phrases appear – “dictator”, “bloodbath”, “end the Constitution” – in an effort to paint a dark and disturbing picture of what a second term for Trump would be like.
The ad narrated by De Niro is part of the campaign’s strategy to intensify its attacks in the month before the first presidential debate of the general election, scheduled for June 27, in Atlanta.
Here’s De Niro’s announcement:
