Former President Donald Trump’s campaign has allocated tens of thousands of dollars to purchase ads in his home state of Florida, specifically targeting his residence at Mar-a-Lago.
According to CNN, a small but noticeable part of Trump’s campaign budget has been directed toward ensuring that Trump sees his own political advertisements while watching TV at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Spending money on ads in South Florida is not expected to significantly affect the election’s outcome, given that Palm Beach County is a Democratic area in a predominantly Republican state that Trump is unlikely to lose.
However, Trump’s campaign team risks upsetting him if he and his friends in Palm Beach don’t see his ads at Mar-a-Lago.
This concern, according to the report published on Monday, August 26, was a driving factor behind the decision to spend money on these ads.
Even though Florida isn’t a key battleground in the current general election, Stein established the reason for this $47,000 expenditure in a place where intense campaigning might not be necessary.
The Bulwark has established that the move is more about keeping the donors happy than the candidate since many donors are based in Palm Beach.
Stein also pointed out that Trump lost Palm Beach County, his home district, by 13 points in the 2020 election.
Kevin Cate, a consultant cited by Stein, suggested that some recent polling data from Florida might have unsettled Trump.
Cate tweeted earlier in August: “I think Trump spends first TV dollars in Florida (for his ego and against his team’s advice). And that’s how you’ll know we’re in landslide territory.” told by Reuters.
But this is not the first time Trump’s team is doing such.
During the 2020 campaign, they spent $400,000 on television ads airing on D.C. cable networks, aimed at giving then-President Trump and congressional Republicans a morale boost.
“We want members of Congress and our D.C.-based supporters to see the ads so they are aware of our strong arguments in favor of President Trump and against Joe Biden,” said Tim Murtaugh, a spokesperson at the time.
Back then, Washington, D.C. had no chance of supporting Trump, much like Florida currently shows little chance of slipping out of his control.
The last Democrat to win Florida was Barack Obama in 2012, and since then, the state’s voting preferences and voter registration have shifted more Republican.
Republicans now have a record advantage of 672,000 more registered voters than Democrats and hold every statewide elected office.
