Florida’s Attorney General Ashley Moody called on the FBI and state law enforcement Thursday to investigate whether billionaire Mike Bloomberg violated state law when he reportedly raised $16 million to pay the outstanding fines and restitutions of 32,000 convicted felons so they could vote in the upcoming election.
But that won’t stop him from reaching deeper into his pockets.
Even after his generous donation to the felons and his pledge to spend $100 million to defeat President Trump in the sunshine state, Bloomberg announced Friday that he will spend $40 million to flood the Florida airwaves with anti-Trump ads.
The massive TV ad buy, made through the Bloomberg-funded Independence USA PAC, comes the same week that nearly 5 million vote-by-mail ballots are being sent to Florida voters, the start of what will essentially be a month-long Election Day in the nation’s largest swing state, according to Politico.
Good timing, Bloomberg.
“This fall, the path to presidency goes through Florida — and with mail-in ballots going out this week, voters will soon start deciding who gets its 29 electoral votes,” Bloomberg said in a statement to Politico. “That’s why we’re doing everything in our power to tell the story of Donald Trump’s failed presidency and why we need Joe Biden as the next president of the United States.”
The $40 million will be used to push ads on cable and network TV in each of Florida’s 10 media markets, with Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville and Fort Myers as top-tier priorities, according to Politico. The ads will focus on the Trump administration’s response to COVID-19, the president’s attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and Biden’s economic development plan.
While an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Thursday had Trump ahead by 3 percent in the state, it is expected to be a close call like it was in 2016, when he scantily defeated Hillary Clinton by 113,000 votes.
Trump needs Florida.
But with Bloomberg having thrown $150 million into his de-Trumping Florida campaign, and with the election only 39 days away, now is crunch time for the president to secure his votes and swing the state in his favor.
