Priorities USA Action spends $2M targeting young people with voter registration ads

Elena Schneider
·2 min read

Priorities USA Action, a leading Democratic super PAC, is rolling out a $2 million digital ad buy focused on voter registration this fall — specifically targeting voters under 34.

The digital ads, details of which were first shared with POLITICO, will resemble content seen on TikTok and other social media platforms. The ads will run on Facebook, Instagram and Hulu through October, targeting younger voters who may have let their voter registration information lapse. They'll air in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and Nevada, a slate of states that feature both competitive congressional races and gubernatorial races.

The ad buy is part of the super PAC's $30 million spending commitment ahead of the November midterms, investments that will go exclusively to digital ads. Priorities USA did the same in 2018, spending more than $50 million on digital ads, after Democrats were significantly outspent online during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Younger voters, in particular, lean Democratic but tend to vote at lower levels in midterm cycles — though 2018 and 2020 stand out as exceptions to the general rules about youth turnout. Under-30 voters turned out at historic rates in both of those elections, and Democrats are hoping to tap into that constituency again to help them weather a difficult midterm environment.

One ad features a stick-figure named “Bob,” who “liked posting that he voted in 2020,” but “we know he let his voter registration get out of date.”

“Don't be like Bob,” the ad concludes.

“Priorities has consistently committed to precise, strategic investments to reach voters where they are most active and looking for information,” Danielle Butterfield, executive director of Priorities USA, said in a statement shared with POLITICO. “This cycle, our digital-first programming recognizes what content voters are already gravitating toward online and tailors our message to retain their attention, empowering them to affect change at the ballot box.”