While Biden’s campaign pulled negative ads, super PACs kept attacking Trump

Democratic nominee Joe Biden pulled negative ads after President Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19. But deep-pocketed super PACs supporting Biden’s campaign continue to hammer Trump on the airwaves, showing how outside groups often do the dirty work for candidates.

Shortly after Trump announced he had contracted COVID-19, Biden said he would cancel attack ads against Trump. Biden and his campaign leaders also asked staff to refrain from commenting about Trump’s condition on social media. In a new video, Biden told voters “This cannot be a partisan moment, it must be an American moment. We have to come together as a nation.”

The Trump campaign said it would not respond in-kind, citing Biden’s criticism of Trump during his recent speech in Grand Rapids, Mich. Trump campaign officials also complained that negative ads were still running in some states. Biden’s camp said it would take a few days to remove ads from hundreds of TV stations. So far this election cycle the Biden campaign has spent $350 million and the Trump campaign has spent $372 million. Since early September, Biden spent nearly $95 million on TV ads to Trump’s $41 million, according to the Wesleyan Media Project.

Biden made his decision Friday before the president checked into Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. Attacks on Trump’s handling of the coronavirus are now a moot point, as the president himself has contracted the virus, one of Biden’s advisors told Politico. The campaign said it is now pushing a positive message of hope and change for the next four years.