Five takeaways on the Senate spending landscape
Money continues to pour into the top-tier Senate races now with less than seven weeks before Election Day, with Democrats outspending Republicans in a majority of the battleground races.
Here are a few takeaways from our analysis of TV and radio spending from Advertising Analytics of these top races (the spending is for the general election, from when the primary concluded in each state through September 20).
- Democrats lead in seven of the top 12 races, according to TV and radio spending figures from Advertising Analytics, while Republicans lead in four of those races. The two parties are tied in West Virginia.
- There isn’t a single red-state Democrat — Heitkamp, Manchin, Tester, McCaskill or Donnelly — who’s being outspent right now.
- After being outspent over the airwaves by about 50-to-1 back in May, Democrats are now close to parity in Florida.
In New Jersey, Hugin and Republicans are outspending incumbent Sen. Bob Menendez and Democrats by more than 2-to-1.
And in Texas, Beto O’Rourke is outspending Ted Cruz and Republicans by more than 3-to-1.
There's also a lot to learn from spending in some key states that AREN'T competitive this cycle.
In Pennsylvania, Democrats are outspending Republicans by a 4-to-1 margin; in Ohio, it’s a 13-to-1 margin; and in Michigan, it’s a whopping 1,000-to-1 margin.
No wonder those races aren’t competitive.
Here's the spending breakdown in the 12 battleground races (the largest spender is in parenthesis, followed by the three less competitive races. And check out the graphic below for a round-up of the top overall Senate advertisers through September 20 from Advertising Analytics:
AZ: GOP $4.3 million, Dem 4.0 million (Majority Forward – D: $1.9 million)
FL: GOP $11.3 million, Dem $8.4 million (Rick Scott camp – R: $7.1 million)
IN: Dem $14.1 million, GOP $12.2 million (Senate Majority PAC – D: $7.6 million)
MO: Dem $13.9 million, GOP $12.6 million (McCaskill camp – D: $5.5 million)
MT: Dem $7.5 million, GOP $5.6 million (Tester camp – D: $2.9 million)
NV: Dem $13.3 million, GOP $12.2 million (One Nation – R: $5.7 million)
NJ: GOP $9.7 million, Dem $4.2 million (Hugin campaign – R: $8.5 million)
ND: Dem $6.0 million, GOP $5.8 million (Heitkamp camp – D: $2.5 million)
TN: GOP $9.0 million, Dem $6.0 million (Majority Forward – D: $3.1 million)
TX: Dem $7.3 million, GOP $2.1 million (O'Rourke camp – D: $7.3 million)
WV: GOP $8.2 million, Dem $8.2 million (Senate Majority PAC – D: $5.0 million)
MI: Dem $2.8 million, GOP $2,700 (Stabenow camp – D: $2.8 million) 1000-1
OH: Dem $6.2 million, GOP $491,000 (Brown camp – D: $6.2 million) 13-1
PA: Dem $2.7 million, GOP $681,000 (Casey camp – D: $2.7 million) 4-1