The Case: Vice President Joe Biden sent a clear message to the nation when he selected Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate during the 2020 presidential election; that his administration was going to embrace our country’s diversity. The campaign had already launched a robust general market ad campaign but they also wanted to reach Indian Country and the growing Asian American Pacific Islander communities in battleground states. It was important to reach these communities through in-language advertising on platforms they trust.

Our Role: The Biden for President Campaign selected Potomac Waves Media to manage all paid media to reach Tribal Country and AAPI voters. PWM worked in sync with the campaign’s political, research and policy teams to develop unique messaging to each AAPI ethnic group. We used this messaging to write and produce television, print and radio advertisements placed on ethnic media outlets. Ads were produced in Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Hindi, Malayalam and Hmong. PWM also placed ads in English in order to reach multigenerational households. Furthermore, PWM complemented the campaign’s tribal outreach by amplifying their proposals to support and lift up tribal communities on tribal media outlets. PWM wrote, produced and placed radio and print ads on media outlets reaching Indian Country in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, North Carolina, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. PWM worked with national tribal leaders including Navajo Nation leaders where we produced and placed a radio ad featuring Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez.

The Results: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris received over 60% of the AAPI vote, which pushed them closer to victory, especially in states like Georgia, where they won by less than 13,000 votes. The campaign’s outreach in Indian Country was just as impactful, securing a narrow win in Arizona that flipped the state and making a difference across the country.