A conservative nonprofit group plans to spend $10 million criticizing a proposal to ban menthol cigarettes that the White House shelved earlier this year, hoping to lose support from Vice President Kamala Harris’ core black voter base.
A new ad campaign by Building America’s Future and Americans for Consumer Protection will primarily target black voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin, a Building America’s Future official described to NBC News.
Digital advertising, text messages and direct mail will try to paint the Biden-Harris administration as out of touch for focusing on the menthol cigarette ban over other issues.
“Instead of solving the issues that matter to you, Kamala Harris and the DC Democrats are after your menthol cigarettes,” says a new digital ad.
“We and the Democrats have bigger problems to deal with,” the ad continued, with headlines about the “border crisis” and the “fentanyl crisis” on the screen.
Although the Biden administration proposed the ban in 2021, he delayed the implementation earlier this year.
Black smokers are more likely to use menthol cigarettes, according to government dataand The proposed ban was divided civil rights and health groups.
The ads do not make a specific political claim because the rules for advertising by nonprofit groups do not allow it. It’s unclear whether the message will work, as stakeholders in both parties are divided over the potential political impact of the proposed ban among black voters.
But Republicans see such messaging as a potential way for Harris to shore up his party’s base as he remains in a tight race against former President Donald Trump.
“Vice President Harris’ coronation completely reset this race because he was able to unify the Democrats’ most important constituency — black voters,” Ryan Tyson, head of the Tyson Group, wrote in a memo shared with NBC News: “Building America’s Future,” the group’s latest poll.
“One way Republicans are trying to fight Harris’s rise in the polls is to alienate blacks from him,” he said. “Highlighting Harris’ support for a ban on menthol cigarettes could be a niche message that could make it happen.”
The Harris campaign did not comment when asked if it would seek to implement the ban if it won the White House.
Quietly Building America’s Future in February started to implement a pilot program is testing this message ahead of the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary, an uncontested contest with a large portion of Black Democratic voters. The messaging was very similar, but it was directed at Biden, the party’s clear front-runner for the nomination. Ads now feature Harris as the main villain.
The Biden administration announced its intention to ban menthol cigarettes in 2021. a potential game-changing policy protecting young and minority smokers by helping them quit or stop smoking in the first place. The plan is backed by a broad coalition of public health groups, as well as prominent black officials such as NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids ads praises the policy.
In an interview with NBC News, Johnson called the ads a distraction from an important effort.
“Tobacco use has been a serious health crisis in the African American community,” he said. “Banning every flavor except one, which research shows is more attractive to African-Americans, shows that the industry is creating a discriminatory practice against the African-American community.”
Johnson rejected the attack that the issue was taking attention away from others, saying political leaders could be “multitasking”.
“This scenario has neither,” he said.
“We can ensure that people are treated with human dignity and ensure that citizens from diverse backgrounds and communities have better health outcomes. [have tobacco companies] be deceptive in business practices or try to be distracted in this current political environment,” Johnson continued.
Tobacco companies opposed the ban. And some black leaders, including attorney Benjamin Crump, who recalled the death of Eric Garner (who died in 2014 after being choked by a police officer accused of selling loose cigarettes), “should warn against giving the police something else. A reason to meet black people” During the interview in 2023.
A poll by Building for America found that black voters want the administration to prioritize other issues over the menthol ban. Also, the poll found that while a majority of black voters said they would be more likely to vote for Harris if he supported the ban, a smaller percentage would be less likely to vote for him if he did (the poll didn’t specifically test whether those voters were on his side from the start or not will they change their vote).
But a February poll by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids found that Biden’s emphasis on support for the ban did not affect his margin with Black voters in a head-to-head poll.
Yolonda J. Richardson, president and CEO of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, told NBC News that their investigation showed that this new ad campaign was “based on a false premise.”
As a political nonprofit group, Building America’s Future does not have a healthy public record. tax presentations show The Florida GOP is associated with several prominent GOP consultants, including Generra Peck, who served as campaign manager for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign.
Unlike super PACs and other groups that publicly advocate for or against a candidate, Building America’s Future is not required to disclose its donors. An official with the group declined to comment when asked if it would share any information about its donors, including tobacco companies or interests that have given it money.
The group has made efforts in the presidential race this year, including other campaign expenses He criticizes Harris for his border policy.