I’ve heard some criticism recently that the Harris campaign hasn’t paid any attention to the Hispanic community. It’s not true:
A secretive Democratic super PAC has been quietly running a massive Spanish-language ad campaign in support of Vice President Kamala Harris, pumping tens of millions of dollars into trying to reach persuadable Latino voters.
Future Forward, a pro-Harris super PAC, keeps a low profile and rarely speaks publicly about the staggering $422 million it has spent in the 2024 campaign, but an adviser to the group shared some details about its efforts to reach Latinos with NBC News on condition of anonymity.
The group has already spent nearly $30 million on Spanish-language TV, radio and digital ads, according to the adviser, which would most likely make it the largest Spanish-language ad campaign of this election (and potentially of all time if spending keeps pace through Election Day).
That’s an unusually large investment in Spanish-language media. By contrast, for instance, Republicans have touted $1 million and $5 million Spanish-language ad campaigns this election.
[…]
With its Latino vote program overseen by veteran Democratic Latino strategists Cristóbal Alex and Pili Tobar, Future Forward has run Spanish-language TV and radio ads in Arizona and Nevada, as well as media markets in battleground states with large Latino populations, including Atlanta, Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Raleigh, North Carolina. Its digital ads have reached 4.5 million Latinos, according to the adviser.
The group believes voters who consume Spanish-language media are more likely to be persuadable in part because they have been exposed to fewer ads than voters who consume English-language media, which is saturated with political messaging in battlegrounds.
Future Forward is known for its rigorous testing of ads, and the adviser said it tested at least 20 versions of each ad that ran with Spanish-speaking Latino voters before it put them on air.
When Future Forward announced a round of ads last month with one of its partners, UnidosUS Action PAC, its president, Chauncey McLean, said in a statement last month, “This Spanish-language ad campaign recognizes the crucial need to engage Latino voters in battleground states—ensuring their voices and perspectives are at the forefront of national policies that impact economic growth, affordability, and opportunities for all Americans.”
It also ran Spanish-language ads with Somos PAC and others.
This seems like a good idea to me but what do I know? On the internet we hear that Harris and Co. are doing it wrong. As usual.