Major Democratic super PAC to spend $20M in Florida in first ad buy since 2020
A political action committee supporting congressional Democrats called the House Majority PAC is spending $20 million on ads to help Democrats win in Florida — the first investment the super PAC has made in the state since 2020.
The move comes as Democrats vow to expand their map of target seats to flip during the midterms in November after a string of Democratic wins in recent months, including in the Miami mayor’s race in December.
“Cory Mills, Anna Paulina Luna, Laurel Lee, María Elvira Salazar, and Carlos Giménez are on notice — Democrats are taking back your seats in November,” House Majority PAC Communications Director CJ Warnke wrote in a statement.
The group is placing $9 million in initial broadcast and digital advertising reservations in Miami. About $2.3 million of that is for Spanish-language ads. The super PAC is also spending $6.6 million in Tampa and $3.9 million in Orlando.
The Florida spending is part of the super PAC’s larger $272 million initial ad buy nationwide.
The fact that the political committee is spending in Florida at all marks a significant pivot of national attention toward the state. National Democratic funding groups largely wrote off Florida’s Democratic races during the 2024 election cycle.
The super PAC announced its initial spending in Florida Thursday, ahead of the state’s special legislative session next week focused on redistricting. Virginia voters approved a gerrymandered voting map that favors Democrats during a special election earlier this week.
Florida is now planning to redistrict too, which gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds said was necessary to boost Republicans. But unlike in Virginia, gerrymandering is illegal in Florida because of its voter-passed 2010 Constitutional Fair Districts Amendment.
Warnke said DeSantis “will put even more Florida Republicans at risk” if he pushes forward with a new map.
Democrats accuse Donald Trump of starting the gerrymandering war, after the White House pressured Texas to redraw their maps without a new census count.
The other major House Democratic political committee, called the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, has long viewed Salazar’s seat as one of a small handful of seats the group thought it could flip in November.
But House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has been increasingly referencing Giménez’s seat as a potential pick-up opportunity for Democrats too. The new House Majority PAC ad spend includes his district.
The latest Democratic spending in Florida also comes as party consultants argue the party needs to start rebuilding its base in Florida if it hopes to have control over the U.S. House after the 2030 census. The state is expected to receive more than its current 28 of the country’s 435 Congressional districts next decade because of Florida’s population growth.
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