AdImpact: Political Spending In First Half Already Nears Full-Year Off-Year Totals.

The mayoral primary election made headlines last week for its outcome. But the banner news for broadcasters is that in an off-year without federal dollars, an election that is often settled with the results of the Democratic primary, remains up for grabs with the incumbent, a conservative radio host, a self-described socialist, and an independent all still vying for the job to lead the biggest city in the U.S.

The ad-tracking firm AdImpact says $36.8 million was spent on advertising during the mayoral primary, making the fourth most expensive election so far this year anywhere in the country. That’s despite the fact that $21 million less was spent during the New York primary compared to four years earlier.

More than half of the money spent went to support the political comeback of former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who had $20 million in total ad support during the primary. But the dollars weren’t votes, and he lost to State Representative Zohran Mamdani, who had just $6.1 million in ad support but nevertheless came out on top in the Democratic primary. The AdImpact data reflects the votes — Mamdani had far more small donors, with most of his ads bought his own campaign, while Cuomo enjoyed the support of outside groups, with the vast majority of his ads coming from groups supporting the former governor. Four other Democrats also saw over $1 million in support, including Brad Lander ($3.7 million), Scott Stringer ($3.2 million), Zellnor Myrie ($2.1 million) and Adrienne Adams ($1.2 million).

Viriginia’s primary was June 17, and AdImpact says it logged $15.2 million of ad spending in the commonwealth. That included $5.1 million spent on the Attorney General’s election. That was more than what was spent for the gubernatorial primary, where ads totaled $3.9 million with only Republicans having a contested race. In the Attorney General primary, AdImpact says nearly all the election ads were from the two Democratic candidates, with just $20,000 in Republican spending for the primary.

The good news for broadcasters in Virginia is that Republican Winsome Earle-Sears and Democrat Abigail Spanberger have already begun spending in their race to be the next governor. AdImpact has tracked $586,000 spent so far, with 83% coming from Spanberger.

Beyond those two states, AdImpact says off-year political spending “remains strong” with $721 million spent during the first half the year. By comparison, during the last off-years in 2021 and 2023, it says $825 million was spent during those entire years. This year’s total is boosted by the record spending in the New Jersey gubernatorial primary, where $89.9 million went into buying ads, making it the most expensive election in New Jersey on record.

The April Wisconsin Supreme Court election was also a big generator of political ads this year, with $80 million spent in that race.

Where the dollars are going is also in flux. During the first half, the analysis shows broadcast TV’s share of the political money is down 5%, while CTV and digital spending are both up 3%.

Not all political ads are going toward specific races. AdImpact says there has been $69.76 million spent on ads in favor and against President Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill.