Kamala Harris is heavily flirting with guys she wants to poach from MAGA World, or least stop them from swinging that way.
Her wingmen are helping by launching an ad blitz targeting white men that will cost around $10 million, a play for a key demographic that tends to favor Donald Trump.
“White dudes, so, I think we’re all pretty sick of hearing how much we suck,” declares a new 68-second ad from the self-described White Dudes for Harris, which will air on YouTube, streaming and social media in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The ad’s narrator complains that Trump guys are giving all guys a bad rap.
“Trump and all his MAGA buddies are out there making it worse, shouting nonsense in their stupid red hats and acting like they speak for us when they don’t,” he says. “All they’ve ever done is screw us over.”
But a lot of white men don’t agree. An NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll conducted in August indicated that more than two-thirds of white men without a college degree supported Trump over Harris. While she had an edge with college-educated white men, it was smaller, at 54 percent to 45 percent.
New national polling from the New York Times also suggests she has an uphill battle to win over white dudes. The data shows that Trump leads Harris among men, 54 percent to 40 percent, and among white people, 54 percent to 43 percent.
But getting white men’s votes will be key to winning the presidency. White voters are more likely to turn out than other demographics. And Harris, who could be the first female president, is already demonstrating strength among women. Shoring up support among white men could push her over the edge.
The language in the new ad, first reported by Politico, plays on tropes about white guys, with the narrator acknowledging voters’ feelings that they’re picking between one “crappy option” and another before saying, “I’ve been doing my own research.”
It features clips of Harris and running mate Tim Walz “actually talking to guys like us,” including a group of firefighters. And the narrator addresses white men directly, telling them not to be intimidated by their MAGA friends.
“You’re your own man,” the narrator says. “It’s your call. But if anyone gives you crap about it, tell them it’s none of their damn business.”
The eight-figure push is backed by the Beige Rainbow PAC, which registered with the Federal Election Commission a month ago. The name appears to be a reference to a quip West Wing actor Bradley Whitford made during a “White Dudes for Harris” video call earlier this summer.
“What a variety of whiteness we have here,” he said. “It’s like a rainbow of beige.”
