Political Ad Spending Hits $11.21 Billion as Election Day Approaches

WASHINGTON. With Election Day less than a week away, an estimated $11.21 billion has been spent or reserved for political advertisements across the United States, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. The figure marks the highest total for any election cycle in U.S. History, exceeding the $11.2 billion spent during the entire 2024 election cycle and running about $2.3 billion ahead of the 2022 midterms.

Republican spending has reached approximately $5.18 billion this cycle, compared with $4.77 billion for Democrats, AdImpact reported. Texas now holds the record for the most expensive nonpresidential race in U.S. History, with more than $560 million in political advertising spending and reservations. Ohio's Senate race has also passed $500 million, joining Ohio's 2024 Senate contest as the only nonpresidential races to reach that mark.

Todd Belt, a political management professor at George Washington University, pointed to the cost of advertising late in a campaign. "It's not just that a lot of money is being spent, it's that it's very expensive to advertise this late in the campaign," Belt said.

The Republican National Committee has said it intends to spend its available resources before Nov. 3. "There's no saving money for a rainy day. Whatever we can get that can be deployed is going to be deployed," RNC chief of staff Mike Ambrosini said. Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin pointed instead to small-dollar donations. "When you have hundreds of thousands of contributors who are giving 5, 10, 15 dollars, they're very excited. That is one indicator of enthusiasm," Martin said.

Federal Election Commission records show that Elon Musk has contributed nearly $450 million to Republican causes during the cycle. George Soros has contributed approximately $102 million to Democratic causes and Michael Bloomberg about $84 million, according to the same records.

Belt told Gray Media's Washington Bureau that the campaign could show which carries more weight in a close contest. "It's almost a perfect natural experiment, where the Republicans have the money and the Democrats have the voice against the administration," he said. Belt also noted that going silent late in a race carries risk: "If you allow your side to go dark at the end of the campaign, you might miss out on on a few of those voters and in a very close race, that could make all the difference," he said.