President Biden’s re-election campaign is leading an aggressive outreach campaign in California as a Republican

presidential candidates

are preparing for their second primary debate in Simi Valley on Wednesday.

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Democratic

surrogates, including the governor of California. Gavin Newsom, Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison and Biden campaign manager Julie Chvez Rodriguez will lead the media blitz with a series of events aimed at Latino voters, a key group that helped elect Biden in 2020 and whom he is targeting a second time will have to win term in 2024.

Newsom, Harrison and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plan to hold a press call on Monday to “pre-empt” the Republican Party’s attacks on Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris by touting the president’s economic record compare it to the ‘MAGA Republican’ policy.

Building on their counter-programming strategy during the first debate, Biden’s campaign will also launch a new television and digital ad as part of a $25 million ad campaign. The 30-second ad, La Diferencia, argues that Biden’s agenda of “lowering costs and investing in Latino communities and their businesses” is in stark contrast to “MAGA Republicans, whose platform only serves the rich and powerful’. The ad will run in English and Spanish in battleground states including Arizona, Pennsylvania and Nevada during the week of the debate.

Other surrogates, including Tucson Mayor Regina Romero, a member of Biden’s national advisory council, and campaign co-chair Rep. Veronica Escobar of Texas, will blanket the airwaves with Democratic messages.

“The campaign response builds on the strong and effective plan from the first debate with a clear north star: pushing back on Republicans’ lies and highlighting their extremism at every turn,” a Biden campaign adviser said.

Republican presidential candidates will take the stage

Wednesday

at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, about 40 miles from downtown Los Angeles. Fox Business and Univision will moderate the two-hour debate, and conservative online video platform Rumble will stream the event.

Former President Trump, who leads Republican Party polls by a wide margin, plans to skip the second debate as he did the first and instead hold an event with autoworkers in Detroit. The location and audience have yet to be announced, but Trump’s decision to appear in a city where United Auto Workers members are on strike against the country’s three largest automakers is a clear attempt to bring union workers to justice. a crucial Democratic constituency that Biden has.

So

tried to anticipate 2024.

The Biden campaign released a statement condemning Trump for his visit to Detroit, ridiculing his anti-union policies as president and U.S. representatives. Debbie Dingell and Haley Stevens of Michigan hosted a press call prior to the visit. “No self-serving photo can erase the four years of Trump abandoning union workers and standing by his ultra-rich friends,” Biden campaign spokesman Ammar Moussa said. The Biden campaign plans to respond to Trump’s visit to Michigan, campaign advisers said.

By skipping the first Republican debate last month, Trump extended his double-digit lead in the polls. Instead, he appeared in an interview with Tucker Carlson.

The Republican National Committee, which oversees the debates, has yet to confirm which candidates will be considered for the Simi Valley stage. Candidates must reach a minimum threshold of voting numbers and campaign donors. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former United Nations Ambassador and South Carolina Governor. Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Governor of New Jersey. Chris Christie and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina are likely to qualify.

In Washington, where Republicans in the House of Representatives have failed to reach an agreement on temporary government funding before the September 30 deadline, a government shutdown appears all but certain. Republican candidates, Biden campaign advisers say, will have to answer whether the party can functionally govern.

The president has largely avoided hosting campaign-style events, and his 2024 operations have gotten off to a slow start since he announced his re-election bid in April. The campaign officially opened its headquarters in downtown Wilmington, Del., last month and has gradually announced a series of hires. Biden has focused on fundraisers and official events that highlight his record.

Biden will also join the GOP debate on counterprogramming next week, traveling to San Francisco on Tuesday and Wednesday for campaign fundraisers and to meet with the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. He will stop in Phoenix on Thursday to honor the legacy of the late Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona in a speech focused on democracy. Biden also wants to meet donors in Arizona.

The Democratic National Committee will fly a plane through Southern California and over the Reagan Library to criticize the Republican primary field. The DNC also plans to drive a billboard truck around the site.