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Outside groups have spent $4.3 million on ads ahead of next week’s GOP Senate primary runoff in Alabama, with the vast majority of the spending benefitting former Senate aide Katie Britt over GOP Rep. Mo Brooks.
Six outside groups have spent a combined $3.9 million on ads boosting Britt since the May 24 primary, per the ad tracking firm AdImpact. That’s more than 10 times the amount of outside spending to boost Brooks, who has seen four groups spend $370,000.
Britt’s campaign has also vastly outspent Brooks on the airwaves, dropping nearly $1.3 million on ads to Brooks’ $143,000. The pair are competing in a runoff after no candidate won a majority of the primary vote last month. Britt was the top vote-getter with 45%, while Brooks won 29% of the primary vote.
The ad onslaught comes as Britt and Brooks face off to replace retiring GOP Sen. Richard Shelby, Britt’s former boss, who has helped fund a super PAC that has launched ads against Brooks.
The largest spender in the race is a super PAC known as Alabama RINO PAC, which is funded by other super PACs with ties to Shelby and the Senate Leadership Fund, a group aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The group has dropped $1.8 million on ads, largely attacking Brooks.
The group’s most recent spot highlights Brooks’ past criticism of former President Donald Trump. The former president initially endorsed Brooks in the race, but rescinded that endorsement as Brooks struggled to break through the primary field. Trump endorsed Britt instead last week.
“Mo thinks Alabama can’t trust Trump,” a narrator says in the 30-second ad. “But in Alabama we know we can’t trust Mo.”
Brooks has had some help from a super PAC known as the Conservative Outsider PAC, which is funded by the Club for Growth. The group’s latest ad knocks Britt on immigration and ties her to McConnell.
“Brooks is a proven conservative, and they prefer a lobbyist like Katie Britt,” a narrator says in the ad.