What We Are Riffing About!

A politically progressive group based in the Southwest is running a new ad to target young voters in Pennsylvania and other key battleground states in the final week of the election.

The Phoenix-based Way to Lead PAC made a $150,000 buy to air during Saturday’s Penn State college football game, as well as other millennial and Gen-Z geared television slots, including on Saturday Night Live, Comedy Central and Cartoon Network.

Designed by political consultants in the Philadelphia area, the 60-second clip focuses on issues like climate change, economic inequality and gun violence. It also borrows imagery from the Black Lives Matter movement, including a representation of George Floyd, whose death at the hands of Minneapolis police this summer helped spark a surge of social justice protests across the nation.

“We’re watching old ideas crumble,” the ad narrator says, behind the image of a falling Civil War-esque monument covered with graffiti that reads “colonialism” and “white supremacy.”

The buy is a small in the scheme of larger ad spending to support Biden and Trump. Combined, the campaigns and their allied PACs have spent over $716 million on television advertising throughout the race, according to NPR.

Notably, the ad does not mention Democratic candidate Joe Biden, despite its obvious appeal to liberal voters. Nor does it mention President Donald Trump. Way to Lead strategist Jenifer Fernandez Ancona said that was intentional.

“There’s been a lot of anti-Trump messaging out there and that’s what gets a lot of attention, but what we’re focussed on is positive stories that target a multi-racial coalition,” Ancona said.