The top Senate Democratic super political action committee is shifting millions in ad money from North Carolina to Ohio and Iowa, a sign of the shifting battlefield for control of Congress just three weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
The Senate Majority PAC said Monday it’s pulling all ads in North Carolina this week as former Democratic Governor Roy Cooper emerges as the favorite in the race against Republican Michael Whatley. Instead, the party will spend $7 million in Ohio and $2.5 million in Iowa, two states President Donald Trump carried by double digits just two years ago.
Democrats are leveraging voter dissatisfaction with the US economy as they try to net four seats to flip control of the Senate, a feat once considered a long shot that appears increasingly within reach.
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The ad buys in Ohio come hours ahead of Trump’s visit to Youngstown, long a Democratic stronghold that swung sharply to Trump. A recent CNN poll conducted by SSRS had Democratic candidate Sherrod Brown, a former senator defeated two years ago, leading Republican incumbent Jon Husted by six points.
It brings the total the Democratic PAC has spent in the Buckeye State to $70 million, according to the Senate Majority PAC. More than $430 million is slated to be spent on advertising in the race by all sides combined, making it the second most expensive of this cycle, behind Texas, according to AdImpact.
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In Iowa, Republican Representative Ashley Hinson is fighting off a challenge from Democratic state legislator Josh Turek. The ad buy brings Democrats’ Senate Majority PAC’s total spend in the state to $32.5 million.
Hinson is up two points over Turek in a recent poll by Emerson College. The Senate race is on pace to cost $202 million, with Democrats spending $101 million of that amount, Republicans $98 million. An independent group paid $3.4 million on ads that criticized Hinson over agriculture policy.
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The reallocation of money follows the Democratic PAC’s purchase of $5 million in ads in Kansas, a state that has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1932, on behalf of pastor Adam Hamilton, who has mounted a competitive bid against Republican Senator Roger Marshall.
Iowa, Kansas and Ohio are rated toss-ups by Cook Political Report, while North Carolina has shifted to likely Democrat. The GOP Senate Leadership Fund last week canceled existing ad reservations in North Carolina with no plans to continue spending on Whatley, the former chair of the Republican National Committee who has cleaved closely to Trump.
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