Republicans are heading into the final weeks of the midterm elections with a substantial financial advantage, planning to spend about $221 million more on advertising than Democrats and their allies across Senate, House and state races.
The figures, compiled by the media-tracking firm AdImpact, show Republican groups are set to spend roughly $888 million on adverts between Monday and Election Day, compared with about $666 million for Democrats.
The Republican lead is being driven largely by outside organisations rather than candidates or party committees. Of the $350 million reserved for advertising in the nine leading Senate contests, only about one-tenth is coming from Republican campaigns and party committees.
Conservative outside groups and Republican committees also held a clear fundraising advantage over their liberal counterparts in Federal Election Commission filings released on Sunday. Much of that money is expected to be used for paid media, which strategists believe can influence close elections, although greater spending does not always determine the result.
President Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc., reported having $416 million in cash at the start of this month. It has begun deploying part of that fund in recent weeks, helping to widen the Republican advertising gap.
No Democratic super PAC has a comparable sum available. The Republican National Committee also entered the month with about $126 million in hand, while the Democratic National Committee was $750,000 in debt after struggling to raise money and dealing with internal turmoil.
Republicans held an advantage of roughly $13 million over Democrats in cash available to the two main House campaign committees. In the Senate, however, the Democratic committee had more cash on hand because Republicans had begun spending earlier.
The Republican Senate committee spent $46 million supporting its candidates in August, compared with just $1 million spent on that purpose by its Democratic counterpart.
Democrats’ main financial strength has been at candidate level. Their Senate candidates had raised significantly more than their Republican opponents in earlier reports, although updated figures comparing the candidates will not be available until next month.
Advertising spending currently favours Republicans in eight of the nine leading Senate races. The gap is about $30 million in Ohio and is expected to increase by tens of millions after the cryptocurrency industry began spending on behalf of the Republican candidate there.
Democratic candidates are hoping their own fundraising can offset the wider Republican advantage. Campaigns and party committees receive cheaper advertising rates than outside groups, allowing candidates to potentially achieve greater exposure with less money.
