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A Super PAC Run By Bernie Allies Is Airing Its First Ad For Joe Biden

A group of former top aides to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is running a super PAC that's trying to rally progressive support for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, who defeated Sanders in the presidential primaries. (Photo: Kevin Lamarque / Reuters)
A group of former top aides to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is running a super PAC that's trying to rally progressive support for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, who defeated Sanders in the presidential primaries. (Photo: Kevin Lamarque / Reuters)

A super PAC created by former top aides to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign is set to air its first television ad, aiming to win over progressives who remain skeptical of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s center-left politics.

The 30-second ad from America’s Progressive Promise features footage of Sanders’ endorsement of Biden. The group is planning to spend six figures to air the spot during the Democratic National Convention later this month on national cable TV and in select markets in the swing states of North Carolina, Arizona, Iowa and Wisconsin.

“Every person who voted for me and for the other candidates understands Donald Trump is the most dangerous president in the history of our country, and that it is absolutely imperative that we come together to defeat him — and defeat him badly,” Sanders says in the ad.

“Whether it is health care, whether it’s the environment or climate change, whether it’s education, whether it’s in the economy, Joe Biden will be the most progressive president since FDR,” he concludes.

Jeff Weaver, who was Sanders’ campaign manager in 2016 and a senior adviser to his 2020 campaign, said the group remains worried about Biden’s relatively weak standing with Latinos and young voters — two groups that Sanders is popular with — even if public polling gives him a healthy and consistent lead over Trump in key states.

“If you look at the polling, Biden is underperforming where Secretary Clinton was with Latinos,” Weaver told HuffPost. “In the Latino community, he just isn’t well-known.”

Sanders beat Biden among Latino voters in key states like Nevada and California during the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries, and America’s Progressive Promise has already worked with Nuestro PAC — which was founded by former Sanders aide Chuck Rocha to target Latino voters — to air ads aimed at Latinos in Arizona, Michigan and North Carolina.

Weaver also said the group would try to remain focused on Iowa, a state that many political forecasters see as a second-tier presidential battleground. Sanders became well-known in Iowa after two strong performances in the state’s caucuses. Weaver noted that winning over a relatively small number of voters — he estimated between 30,000 and 40,000 — could flip the state.

“Iowa hasn’t received the kind of attention I think it deserves,” he said. “I think it’s important for Democrats long-term to demonstrate their continued strength in the agricultural Midwest.”

Weaver declined to reveal exactly how much the group plans to spend, saying only that the sum would be “substantial.” As a super PAC, it can raise and spend unlimited sums in support of Biden, provided that it does not directly coordinate with his campaign. The group won’t have to reveal its donors to the Federal Election Commission until October.

Sanders was not a fan of the group’s creation. He has long opposed super PACs, even though several relatively small super PACs spent money supporting his presidential bids in 2016 and 2020. While the group’s name originally invoked a Sanders slogan — “Future to Believe In” — the name was changed in May at Sanders’ request.

Still, Weaver indicated that the group will continue to feature the grandfather of the modern progressive political movement in its advertising.

“Sanders is the most effective messenger in this context,” Weaver said. “Even among people who aren’t his supporters, he’s one of the most trusted political leaders in the country.”

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.