Anti-Trump Republican Group Launches $10 Million Ad Campaign To Secure Swing States For Joe Biden

Anti-Trump Republican group Defending Democracy Together launched a $10 million ad campaign Thursday to sway voters in swing states away from President Donald Trump.

The ad campaign is part of the group's newest initiative, "Republican Voters Against Trump," targeting voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Arizona to secure support for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

“People need to see other people like themselves,” Sarah Longwell, executive director of Defending Democracy Together, told the New York Times.

Defending Democracy Together is the political nonprofit behind the ad campaign and operates other initiatives meant to combat the “unsettling nativist and authoritarian impulses” in the modern Republican Party.

"Republican Voters Against Trump" features “Republicans, former Republicans, conservatives and former Trump voters who can’t support Trump for president this fall.” The ads feature people explaining why they voted for Trump or Republican in 2016 and what has prompted them to change their minds.

Defending Democracy Together's other ad campaigns include the "Becoming American Initiative," which talks about immigrant contributions to the U.S., and "Republicans Against Putin."

“The whole point of the project is for people to credibly make their case to other people,” Longwell said. “Trust in the media is down, trust in politicians is down. The people who they trust are people like them.”

Several voters shared their stories with the initiative, which are available on its website.

“Trump’s leadership style is tearing our country further apart, which is exactly opposite of what we need during this pandemic,” Lena, a voter from Wisconsin, said.

“I don’t believe Trump is an actual Republican,” Shennelleh, a voter from Massachusetts, said. “We all took it in and voted for him, but I don’t believe he truly cares about Republican values.