Biden goes local in effort to get around national media

President Biden is looking for ways to attract voters in battleground states without relying solely on national media.

And he started going local more and more.

Mr. Biden and his aides say his path to reelection is not just through national television and print media, where many viewers and readers are familiar with Mr. Biden’s background.

As the general election begins, a core part of media strategy will be at the local level, particularly in efforts to advance critical voters.

It’s a strategy that Biden’s advisers say worked well during the 2020 cycle, as he redoubles his re-election efforts.

The Biden campaign has spent time with local media during recent visits to key states such as Wisconsin and North Carolina. And in the coming months, they will spend more time on the ground with local news outlets and so-called “influencers” in battleground state communities, as they did in recent campaigns in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. That’s going to happen.

“It’s always helpful for a president to be able to talk specifically to the community about his accomplishments without making too much noise,” said one longtime Biden aide. “That’s more effective than sitting in a network where many of your voters are already trying to vote for you.”

Earlier this month, Biden sat down for an interview with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart.

But he has gone months during his administration without speaking to the national press and has sometimes been criticized by the White House press corps for not holding press conferences.

According to people close to him, he likes to do local interviews, and reporters ask questions about their own community rather than his opinion of the day’s 30,000-foot question or the latest general election polls. He asked about the news.

By focusing on local support, the longtime aide said, “there’s more to be gained.”

Democratic strategist Fernando Amandi argued it was a smart strategy, saying it was “worth the juice” in key states.

More importantly, he added, it gives Biden an advantage over presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. The former president faces a number of legal issues and his schedule prevents him from effectively conducting numerous on-the-ground interviews.

“He doesn’t have time,” Amandi said.

But Trump’s aides insisted the former president conducted interviews locally, including during the Republican primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina.

“President Trump is better for the media and the American public than a failed president, disastrous policies, and a broken Biden who won’t allow his staff to be interviewed or answer questions for fear of cognitive decline. It’s approachable,” Daniel said. Alvarez, President Trump’s press secretary.

So far, Trump has taken a less focused approach in addressing voters in battleground states.

The former president has given a smorgasbord of interviews on radio and podcasts this month, including one with Sebastian Gorka, who served in his administration, and separately from New York station WABC, where the charges begin next month. He faces a scheduled criminal trial. Payment of hush money.

President Trump also spoke with Howard Kurtz on Fox News earlier this month.

But Republicans acknowledge there doesn’t seem to be a concerted effort to appeal to voters in battleground states.

“There was very little of that,” one Republican strategist said of local media activity. “And while I think Mr. Trump can get his message across to his voters better than Mr. Biden, he needs to do better to reach local targets. That could make all the difference. There is a sex.”

In recent weeks, Biden recorded two radio interviews in Milwaukee and also gave two interviews in North Carolina ahead of Super Tuesday.

“Voters deciding this election support President Biden’s efforts to lower costs for families and create jobs, and fundamentally oppose Donald Trump’s plans to ban abortion and cut Social Security and Medicare. ,” said Josh Marcus-Blank. He is the state communications director for the Biden campaign.

And even when Biden isn’t visiting key states, his advisers and surrogates are being sent on message tours of their own.

On Tuesday, Biden campaign co-chairman and former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu traveled to Wisconsin for his “Trump Fails, Biden Delivered” message tour.

While in the battleground state, he met with local mayors and business leaders, as well as several local media outlets that impact communities throughout Northern Wisconsin, Madison and Milwaukee.

“In a state where 10,000 votes can make a difference, this is a sound advocacy strategy,” Amandi said.