McCarthy-Backed Group Counters Pelosi With $125 Million in Ads
McCarthy-Backed Group Counters Pelosi With $125 Million in Ads
(Bloomberg) -- A political action committee seeking to make Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy the next House speaker has reserved $125 million in campaign ads in 46 congressional districts to help the GOP take control of the chamber in November elections.
The Congressional Leadership Fund’s ad buys compare with $102 million previously announced by a similar group backing current Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Democrats currently control the House by a margin of just five seats.
The McCarthy-backed group’s push shows that it’s mostly on the offensive, with 89% of its ad spending in districts currently held by Democrats. With rare historical exceptions, the party out of power usually picks up seats in midterm elections.
The biggest outlay is $15 million in Las Vegas, where three Democrats are defending their seats: Representatives Dina Titus, Susie Lee and Steven Horsford. The committee is also spending $8.1 million in Phoenix, where Republicans aim to unseat Tom O’Halleran and Ann Kirkpatrick; and $7.3 million in Philadelphia, where they’re going after Chrissy Houlahan, Susan Wild and Matt Cartwright.
CLF President Dan Conston called the round of spending “a significant down payment on the firepower we’ll need to win.”
Through the end of March, the McCarthy-aligned super PAC had raised $103 million, according to its most recent filing with the Federal Election Commission. Top donors include Citadel’s Ken Griffin, who’s contributed $18.5 million and Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone Group, who gave $10 million.
The reserved air time on both sides is the largest and earliest on record. Political groups often stake out airtime months in advance to lock in lower rates in expensive and crowded media markets, but can shift resources around as the campaign unfolds.
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