Clinton super PAC targets Hispanics with new anti-Trump digital ads

The main super PAC supporting Hillary Clinton is kicking off its $35 million digital ad campaign on Thursday with a set of video spots targeted at Hispanic voters, including one — “A Racist Statement” — that quotes Republican officials branding Donald Trump’s remarks about a judge as racist.

Priorities USA Action's 30-second spot — which opens with a clip of the presumptive GOP nominee facing off with CNN’s Jake Tapper over his suggestion that an Indiana-born judge of Mexican descent would not be able to fairly preside in a case involving his Trump University program, and which ends with House Speaker Paul Ryan denouncing the comments — is one of four new ads going up on Facebook, Pandora and Instagram or auto-playing before clips online in the crucial swing states of Colorado, Nevada and Florida, to the tune of $250,000.


The spots land at a clear turning point in the election. With Clinton now Democrats’ presumptive nominee, she has been rapidly escalating her assault on Trump, and the groups associated with her White House bid are following suit.

Trump’s comments about the judge are now featured prominently in her stump speech, and her willingness to spend extended periods of time warning her followers of the dangers he poses has skyrocketed ever since she gave an extended address decrying his foreign policy last week. Those San Diego remarks were greeted with a loud sigh of relief from Democrats who were nervous about how she would take on the brash real estate developer, who tore through 16 primary opponents.

The new Priorities spots zero in on Trump’s lack of popularity with Hispanic voters, who Democrats expect to turn out in droves to vote against him come November. A March Gallup survey showed that 77 percent of Hispanic Americans held an unfavorable view of him, months before he started going after Judge Gonzalo Curiel.

One of the ads, titled “The Choice Is Ours,” simply features images of Hispanic families as the voices of Trump and Clinton alternate for 30 seconds — including Trump’s famous statement that Mexicans are "bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists."

The other two spots are 15-second clips featuring the same images. One features just Clinton’s voice, and the other features Trump's.

Priorities communications director Justin Barasky said: “Donald Trump believes your race decides whether or not you’re qualified to do a job, and he kicked off his campaign by referring to Hispanics as criminals and rapists, while Hillary Clinton has fought her entire career to ensure everyone, no matter their ethnicity, has a chance to fulfill their dreams. The choice this election for Hispanic voters and all Americans between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton couldn’t be more clear. We deserve a president who lifts us up, not one who divides us and ridicules us like Donald Trump."

While Clinton’s campaign itself has been digging in for a long battle against Trump, Priorities has invested heavily in reservations for ad time to hit him: The group has also launched a $90 million television campaign that will run until Election Day in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Nevada, New Hampshire and Virginia.