The Lincoln Project releases ad comparing Trump to Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro

For a state not expected to be a presidential election battleground, Florida is attracting some interest and investment in political advertisements and billboards.

The anti-Trump Lincoln Project on Monday dropped an ad, which is running on television and digital platforms, comparing former president Donald Trump to Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. And vocal Trump critic George Conway’s Anti-Psychopath PAC said last week it is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on billboards near the former president's Florida properties that call him a cheat.

The Lincoln Project's Rick Wilson said the organization aired their ad after seeing a poll last week showing Vice President Kamala Harris leading the Republican nominee in all-important Miami-Dade County. Wilson said he does not believe "Florida is in play" but nonetheless wanted to draw a comparison between Trump and the Venezuelan dictator.

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By all accounts, Maduro was defeated in the country's July 28 election, but declared himself the winner nonetheless. The Lincoln Project has drawn the comparison between the Venezuelan dictator and Trump in its 30-second spot.

"Where did Maduro learn this trick? From Donald Trump," the ad states. "Maduro learned from Trump that he could lose an election, then lie about it. If you love Maduro, you'll love what Trump does next."

Lincoln Project ad compares Maduro to Trump post-2020 election

The former U.S. president has insistently claimed he was cheated out of the 2020 election despite losing court challenges and in the face of what elections observers have repeatedly pointed out were numerous ballot recounts and hand counts that conclusively proved President Joe Biden won the contest four years ago.

Trump and his subordinates have also faced criminal indictments for their post-2020 actions. And more than 1,000 Americans have faced felony or misdemeanor charges for their roles in the subsequent violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, which a congressional committee has said was part of an attempted coup it said was led by Trump.

Trump has maintained that he won the election and has called allies and those charged with Jan. 6 crimes "patriots" and "hostages." He has said it is "radical left" Democrats, "communists," "Marxists" and others who are a threat to American democracy. He has dismissed the Jan. 6 congressional committee and its findings as a partisan attack.

But Wilson said he watched "all the coverage of Maduro declaring himself the winner" and it was obvious to draw the comparison to Trump. And, he added, to remind certain "voter segments" in Florida of the disturbing similarity.

"It was something that struck us right then that we should remind one of Florida's many voter segments, this emerging Venezuelan population, and more broadly South Florida's anti-authoritarian population that the same things that drove them from their homelands, that drove them to flee to this country, are things that Donald Trump is going to bring if he is denied this election," Wilson said of the ad, which follows in spirit to one of a few years ago that stated "Castro is Spanish for Trump."

He added: "If he loses, he's going to try his very best to pull a Maduro."

If the state is to be in play, South Florida will be the one to signal it

Wilson added that he does not believe the state's 30 electoral votes are up for grabs, but he and others took notice of a poll by MDW Communications that showed Harris topping Trump by 15 points in Miami-Dade.

"Florida is not in play, but if it becomes a state that gets into play, it will be in part because South Florida breaks off and becomes a less solid Trump base," Wilson said.

Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at afins@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.