Outside groups in the Senate have now spent over $250 million and the battleground has begun to shift a bit since the last article three weeks ago: https://analysis.decisiondeskhq.com/where-are-outside-groups-spending-in-the-senate/. The month of September has been filled with negative ads and some new states have entered the fray so I wanted to divide them by comparing spending levels to where we were before.
Moving On Up: A few new states have started receiving more cash this month after not seeing any action for awhile. Kansas has passed the $9 million thanks to a $5.2 million spend against GOP candidate Roger Marshall by the organization Women Vote! while both the Republican party and the Koch Brothers organization Americans For Prosperity have added a few million more. Michigan had seen a long gap of no polling but now has $7 million more in the last month from both parties as polls tighten. This seat was written off so keep an eye on if the parties continue to spend here because if so, this may be a tighter race than before. Iowa had two large cash injections by either party and remains the 2nd expensive race with $40 million combined in and The Lincoln Project’s $800k spend against Lindsey Graham was the first major expense in that race. The top one is North Carolina which has reached a frenzied pace the last few weeks and has surpassed $50 million total as both parties commit to the race. Watch Arizona as that also climbs up in spending recently from a wide variety of groups.
Staying Even: Georgia is still staying at about the same rate of spending as Republicans are the only party to see outside groups spending here. Maine and Montana, both states with more of a partisan lean compared to other battleground states, have not seen the same increase as other states but there is still a financial stake going into it regularly.
Fading Away: Colorado has not seen a sharp downward tick in spending but it is not commanding the same attention and resources that it did earlier compared to overall spending. This remains one to watch as the battleground expands on whether the parties will keep putting resources here or in one of the other several expensive senate seats up for grabs.