Detroit air-quality startup featured in new Biden TV ad

Washington — A Detroit small-business owner is featured in a new TV ad from President Joe Biden's reelection campaign that will run in the Detroit media market and around the Lions game against the Chicago Bears on Sunday, the campaign said.

The 30-second ad is centered around Darren Riley, founder and CEO of the startup JustAir, which develops community air quality data and alert systems and is operating in four Michigan cities. Over footage of workers installing air-quality monitors, Riley says in the ad that everyone deserves access to clean air and water.

"Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are investing in our community. These policies are helping to support small businesses like mine, allowing us to really grow and create jobs," Riley says in the ad.

"We have a president that actually just cares about the work. He cares about doing stuff that helps everyday people."

The ad, which will run during general and sports programming in the market, as well as national cable news, is part of a $25 million, 16-week ad campaign in battleground states across the country. The campaign declined to specify how much is being spent to run this specific ad in the Detroit market.

JustAir has a $2.7 million, three-year contract with Wayne County that was announced over the summer. The company, through a program funded by the American Rescue Plan stimulus package adopted in 2021, will work with community groups to determine where to deploy dozens of stationary air monitors and will create a text-alert system and public portal for monitoring results.

Metro Detroit had its worst summer for air quality in more than a decade this year. The region was inundated by smoke from Canadian wildfires, which clouded local skies with particulate matter pollution. 

Riley started his company after developing asthma from living in southwest Detroit in his mid-20s, according to his biography.

“We’re proud of our work to provide the infrastructure necessary to create a cleaner breathing environment for the people of Detroit, and we’re proud to have a partner in President Biden, who is building a better economy by supporting the innovation we need for a better tomorrow," Riley said in a statement to The Detroit News.

Biden beat then-President Donald Trump, a Republican, in Michigan in 2020 by 3 percentage points.

The state is anticipated to be hotly contested during the presidential campaign next year, which is highly expected to be a rematch with Trump leading the polls with wide margins.

Staff Writer Carol Thompson contributed.

mburke@detroitnews.com