An astounding $10.8 billion has been spent on political ads on elections for president, House and Senate down to county commissioner, according to data provided by the ad-tracking firm AdImpact and analyzed by NPR.
Loading...
The dates covered are from Jan. 1, 2023 through Dec. 31, 2024.
Democrats have outspent Republicans $5.1 billion to $4.3 billion (with the rest spent by third-party and nonpartisan groups).
The top 10 states with the most political ad spending this cycle:
- Pennsylvania: $1.2 billion
- Michigan: $780 million
- Ohio: $731 million
- California: $712 million
- Wisconsin: $653 million
- Arizona: $497 million
- North Carolina: $494 million
- Florida: $409 million
- Nevada: $364 million
- Texas: $357 million
For the first time in history, a single state has seen more than $1 billion in political ads — Pennsylvania. It is seen as the key state in the presidential election, but it also has a hotly contested Senate race and four competitive House races.
It’s similar for Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada. The focus for Ohio, California, Florida and Texas have been the Senate races. In addition to the presidential election, North Carolina has a high-profile gubernatorial race.
More than $3 billion has been spent on just the presidential election. Democrats have spent $1.7 billion to Republicans’ $1.3 billion.
The focus in the presidential election has been the seven most closely watched states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. Almost two-thirds of all spending in the presidential election has been on those seven states.
The most money has gone to Pennsylvania, of course — more than $600 million — followed by Michigan ($398 million), Georgia ($321 million), Wisconsin ($253 million), North Carolina ($221 million), Arizona and Nevada ($130 million).
The top five spenders in the presidential election were:
- Harris for President (D): $536 million
- FF PAC (D): $465 million
- MAGA Inc (R): $383 million
- Trump for President (R): $340 million
- Biden for President (D): $155 million
Copyright 2024 NPR
