Democratic Senate Candidates Outspend GOP In Top Local TV Markets
- by Wayne Friedman , October 31, 2018
Looking at 10 key competitive states for U.S. Senate seats, Democrats are spending slightly more on local TV than Republicans.
Democrats have outspent Republicans in local broadcast TV by nearly $10 million on Senate races -- at $133 million vs. Republicans, who have spent $123.1 million, according to Matrix Solutions.
Those top 10 states are: Arizona, Nevada, North Dakota, Florida, Indiana, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, Missouri and Montana. Data comes from Matrix Solutions’ Monarch ad sales platform, which is integrated into local TV stations' ad systems.
Democratic candidates are tops in eight of the 10 markets. There are two markets where Republican candidates are spending more.
The largest differential is in Indiana, favoring Democratic candidate Senator Joe Donnelly with a spend of $18.7 million against Republican opponent Mike Braun at $12.6 million.
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The biggest differential for Republicans is in Florida -- Republican Governor Rick Scott (at $21.7 million) to Democrat Senator Bill Nelson (at $18.3 million).
Scott is also spending more than any candidate in these top markets.
For all Democrats in these top markets, Missouri’s Senator Claire McCaskill has the biggest spend, at $20.3 million.
Matrix looked at total political advertising -- from PACs, political committees and organizations, among others -- after “normalizing” spend from 166 active political marketing accounts. For example, Matrix says a PAC may be identified with a different name.
Political ad spend in these local TV races is for spending through October 25.
