Press Releases

LCV Victory Fund & Priorities USA Action Ad: Trump’s Support for Offshore Drilling is ‘The Last Thing Florida Needs’

Aug 4, 2020

Emily Samsel, emily_samsel@lcv.org, 828-713-9647 | Steve Pierce, spierce@priorities.org, 801-368-0240

Tallahassee, FL — LCV Victory Fund and Priorities USA Action released a new anti-Trump digital ad today criticizing the Trump administration’s reported plan to open Florida waters to oil drilling. The ad is part of an ongoing $14 million campaign targeting 1.58 million ‘environmental swing voters’ across 6 key battleground states. 

WATCH: “The Last Thing”

“This is just another example of Trump ignoring science, ignoring experts and ignoring the needs of Florida families,” said Megan Jacobs, National Campaigns Director, LCV Victory Fund. “As hurricane season begins and the climate crisis and coronavirus pandemic rage on, the absolute last thing Florida communities, especially communities of color, need is for Trump to open the Gulf to dangerous offshore drilling.”

“For four years, Donald Trump has repeatedly failed Florida families — and now he’s doing it again,” said Priorities USA Executive Director Patrick McHugh. “With thousands already dead and even more out of work as a result of his inability to control the coronavirus, Trump wants to double-down on his failures by threatening Floridians’ lives and livelihoods in a whole new way. Voters are ready for a president who will stand against dangerous offshore drilling and bring real leadership back to the White House. They’re ready for Joe Biden.”

The new ad comes in response to reports that Trump’s Interior Department is preparing to open the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling later this year — a position the agency had previously said was “off the table.” Notably, 2020 marks a decade since the BP drilling disaster Deepwater Horizon killed 11 people and left hundreds of millions of gallons of toxic oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico. Gulf communities are still recovering. 

In the new ad, the narrator says, “Offshore drilling. The last thing Florida needs. For our economy and environment.” A FOX 4 Florida news anchor reports, “Multiple sources are saying the Trump administration is preparing to push for oil drilling off Florida’s coast.” The narrator concludes, “Trump. The last thing Florida needs.”

The script of the ad is below.

“The Last Thing”
Offshore drilling
The last thing Florida needs
For our economy
And environment
News anchor: Multiple sources are saying the Trump administration is preparing to push for oil drilling off Florida’s coast
Trump
The last thing Florida needs

# # #

Paid for by LCV Victory Fund, www.lcvvictoryfund.org, and Priorities USA Action, www.prioritiesusaaction.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.