After taking a backseat in political ad spending compared to their rival party over the summer, Republican groups are ramping up their ad buys across radio, TV, and digital. Hoping to close the spending gap with Democrats, GOP committees and outside groups are increasing their spending now that Election Day is just over two months away.
CNN says the latest burst in spending comes from One Nation, which is the public policy arm of the Senate Leadership Fund Super PAC. The group plans $10 million in radio, TV and digital ads in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Wisconsin. The latest spending comes on top of what the group has already spent ahead of the midterm elections. The ads, which are running through early September, will support Republican Senate candidates in each of the four states.
The late push follows a difficult summer for Republican candidates. Dr. Mehmet Oz has struggled to raise money for his Pennsylvania Senate run. Former professional football player Herschel Walker, who is running for Senate in Georgia, is being questioned on his ability to take on Democratic candidate Senator Raphael Warnock. In Ohio, Democratic candidate Rep. Tim Ryan’s fundraising efforts have outpaced Republican J.D. Vance’s.
Another factor in the soft summer political ad spend by GOP-related groups is the early money spent ahead of primaries in many states.
A “Republican operative” told CNN that the earlier political ad spend from the Democrats was something they foresaw. "There was an onslaught of spending from the Democrats that we knew was coming. All of their spending happens earlier than ours. We just had to compensate," they said. "From now until Election Day, we just need to spend enough to be on parity or close to parity."
Many GOP supporters believe their ads will be heard and help sway voters as the election nears. The Senate Leadership Fund Super PAC has reserved nearly $180 million worth of ads in Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
"We're going to make sure voters know who's to blame for their pain," Steven Law Law, head of the super PAC told CNN. "And the only way to stop it is to elect a Republican Senate majority this fall."
The National Republican Senatorial Committee says they have spent more than $42 million on advertising so far, with the bulk of the money going to North Carolina, Arizona, and Georgia.
"Our strategy from the beginning of the cycle was to spend early to keep our candidates in the fight until the fall when the big spending from the outside groups picks up," Chris Hartline, spokesman for the committee, said. "As we've seen in the past, you can't win elections in May or June but you can lose them."
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