Democrats Have Half Billion Ad Spending Advantage Over Republicans

Republicans and their allies are running approximately $500 million behind Democrats in ad spending running from August until election day, according to a new report.

Democratic campaigns and outside groups supporting them have spent $1.8 billion on ads set to air between August 1 and November 5 as of September 20, according to Axios’ analysis of data from the analytics firm AdImpact. Republicans and the groups backing their campaigns, meanwhile, have paid about $1.3 billion for ad space over the same period.

The data includes spending on presidential, congressional and down-ballot races, according to Axios.

Republican leadership, publicly and privately, had expressed grave concern over the financial lead the Democrats have built moving towards election day.

“Right now, the left-wing billionaires are massively outspending us,” Republican Montana Sen. and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Steve Daines said in his July address to the Republican National Convention. “That’s what’s keeping me up at night.”

Daines ended his speech by imploring his audience to visit a Republican fundraising website and donate to help the party’s effort to retake the Senate.

Leaders of the Congressional Leadership Fund and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRSC), groups responsible for helping conservatives win House races, have privately warned party leaders that they are tens of millions of dollars behind Democrats in key battleground races.