by Robert Schmad
Democrats had outspent Republicans on advertisements in every competitive Senate race except for Ohio as of Wednesday, Axios reported.
Republicans are losing the ad spending race in Pennsylvania, Montana, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona and Michigan, though have spent slightly more in Ohio, leading their Democratic rivals by a margin of $158.4 million to $152 million, according to Axios. The Republican spending advantage in Ohio may be slightly misleading as their roughly $6 million spending advantage in Ohio is the product of considerable ad spending during the state’s competitive Republican primary, as reflected in Federal Election Commission records.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), however, is confident that it can turn things around, with a spokesperson for the group sharing with the Daily Caller News Foundation that it is planning a $100 million ad campaign across Ohio, Nevada, Michigan and Arizona. The Republican ad blitz kicked off in Michigan on Wednesday, NBC News reported.
Democrats held a roughly $16 million spending advantage over Republicans in the Michigan Senate races as of Wednesday, according to Axios.
“Democrats are going to adopt a strategy of lying about Republican Senate candidates because they can’t defend their support for Kamala Harris’ plan to decriminalize border crossings, defund the police and destroy our economy with a multi-trillion-dollar Green New Scam,” NRSC Communications Director Mike Berg told the DCNF, reacting to some of the ads Democratic groups have run against Republicans running in swing states.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) recently pledged $79 million to hit Republicans in Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan with ads attempting to discredit Republican candidates by depicting them as racist, wealthy and out of touch with voters.
Ohio, Pennsylvania and Montana alone have attracted roughly $723 million in campaign ad buys, according to Axios. Democrats lead Republicans in Pennsylvania and Montana by a margin of about $15 million in spending.
Former President Donald Trump won Ohio and Montana in both the 2016 and 2020 elections, making some Republicans confident that they can flip the seats.
Democratic Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown leads Republican nominee Bernie Moreno by five points in Real Clear Polling’s average. Democratic Montana Senator Jon Tester, meanwhile, trails Republican nominee and former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy by 3.5 points in Real Clear Polling’s average for their race.
In Arizona, another key 2024 state, Democrats lead Republicans $64.7 million to $12 million and in Nevada, Democrats lead $72.2 million to $29.8 million, Axios reported. Things aren’t much better for Republicans in Wisconsin as they have spent just $35.9 million on ads against the Democrats’ $74.5 million.
The Cook Political Report, a leading political forecaster, currently predicts that Democrats are more likely than Republicans to win the Senate races in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin while it considers the elections in Michigan, Montana, Nevada and Ohio to be toss-ups.
Democrats had also outspent the GOP by nearly double on advertisements related to the presidential race as of Aug. 2, according to Axios.
The DSCC did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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Robert Schmad is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Sherrod Brown” by Sherrod Brown. Background Photo “U.S. Capitol Building” by Patrick Morris.
