ANN ARBOR, Mich. — College football fans in election battleground states have grown accustomed to television coverage of their favorite games being filled with political ads.
The Democratic National Committee planned to expand the fight on Saturday from radio broadcasts to the air around certain stadiums, with banner messages to be displayed on the back of planes, Avi Rahman, deputy director of communications for the Democratic National Committee, told Yahoo Sports.
The DNC sponsored banners that will fly over four college football stadiums on Saturday: Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania, and Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin.
Most of the messages linked former President Donald Trump to the conservative think tank Project 2025 for Governance and urged voters to “get rid” of the candidate and his proposals.
Here in Ann Arbor, before the Michigan-Texas game, a banner was planned to poke fun at Trump’s running mate, Ohio senator and Ohio State alumnus J.D. Vance, who is also Trump’s arch rival.
It read, “J.D. Vance (Hart) Ohio State University + Project 2025.”
Others were more basic.
“Penn State: Defeat Trump and Abolish Project 2025”
“Wisconsin: Jump Around! Defeat Trump + Project 2015”
A banner reading “Georgia: Defeat Trump & Repeal Project 2025” was planned to be flown over Sanford Stadium, but bad weather prevented planes from landing.
While numerous surveys have shown that college towns overwhelmingly tend to vote Democratic, college football fans in general tend to lean Republican. One open question is how many of each party’s voters are interested in seeing political ads for a particular candidate at tailgates or at games.
As the election approaches, finding voters in battleground states is expected to be one of the campaign’s most important challenges. College football is especially popular in these states. Depending on stadium capacity, between 80,000 and 110,000 fans are expected to attend each game, with many more gathering for tailgating before and after the game.
The DNC said Saturday’s activities will also include voter registration drives, information drives and door-to-door canvassing.