Republican group launches multimillion-dollar Florida ad blitz to boost Biden

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A Republican group aimed at unseating President Trump during the November presidential election is spending millions in Florida in hopes of turning the battleground state blue.

Officials with Republican Voters Against Trump, a national super PAC, said in a memo this week they were launching a campaign designed to help Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden flip Florida – a state that Trump won in the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton.

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Leading the group are political operatives with deep ties to the Sunshine State, including Mike Murphy, who twice helped Jeb Bush win Florida's governor's office.

The campaign – called “Project Orange Crush” – is expected to spend between $8 million to $10 million in the run-up to the Nov. 3 election on TV and digital ads, according to the memo. It will target close to a half-million voters in the state, a group consisting mostly of independents and moderate Republicans who have not yet committed to voting for Biden or Trump.

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The group said they are focusing their attention on Florida because unlike other swing states, a victory there could solidify Biden's odds of winning the Electoral College. Candidates need at least 270 electoral votes to win the White House; Florida, with 29 up for grabs, is one of the biggest delegate prizes on Election Day.

"There’s actually a much greater opportunity than people realized in Florida for it to be a linchpin state to defeat the president, that a lot of the voters there that need to be potentially persuaded would be receptive to our message," Tim Miller, political director of Republican Voters Against Trump, told Fox News.

Should Biden win those delegates, he would likely only need to win one other swing state to beat Trump.

They also noted that Florida, with such a diverse electorate, is "a strong hedge against any potential Trump comeback" in the Midwest.

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"It is no secret that Trump will use reckless and racially inflammatory language and grievance politics to try to rally his voters," the group said. "In 2016, such tactics had an impact in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and almost carried Minnesota."

An aggregate of polls by RealClearPolitics shows Biden with a slight 3.7 percentage point lead over Trump.

In 2012 and 2008, Barack Obama narrowly won Florida over then-GOP candidates Mitt Romney and John McCain, respectively.

Separately, the PAC is spending between $10 to $15 million in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.