(Bloomberg) -- The entry of Vice President Kamala Harris into the presidential race is injecting millions of dollars worth of television ads daily into an expanded map of battleground states, reflecting a newly competitive election against former President Donald Trump.
Halfway through August, the presidential campaigns and their allies have already bought or reserved $247 million in ad spending to run this month, 19% more than they did in all of August of 2020, according to data from ad-tracking firm AdImpact compiled by Bloomberg.
The sudden blitz of August ads is front-loading a campaign season that traditionally doesn’t begin in earnest until after Labor Day in early September, a sign that both campaigns are flush with cash and hoping to leverage that into a polling edge.
That figure is likely to increase as more ad time is booked. In recent days, the Harris campaign and a pro-Trump super political action committee have announced $190 million worth of ad buys for the coming weeks.
Trump and his allied super-PACs have booked about 60% of the ad time for August, reversing the advertising advantage Democrats have had for most of the campaign. Republicans are now out-spending their opponents in all seven swing states most crucial to the outcome of the November election.
The late substitution of Harris as Democratic nominee has helped to turbo-charge spending, forcing both sides to revamp their messaging to reflect a rapidly changing dynamic. In her ads, Harris has sought to emerge from President Joe Biden’s shadow by reintroducing herself to voters as the daughter of middle-class immigrant parents and burnishing her credentials as a “border-state prosecutor.”
Republican super-PACs have responded by casting her as “dangerously liberal” and the architect of “the worst border crisis in American history.”
For months, Biden had the swing-state airwaves mostly to himself, trying to make up ground against a Trump campaign distracted by four criminal cases against the former president.
With Biden struggling in the “Blue Wall” states of the industrial north, Trump’s super-PAC, MAGA Inc., focused previously most of its resources on must-win Pennsylvania.
In a sign of how much the race has changed, MAGA Inc. has now expanded the map to include all seven swing states — including North Carolina, a state once thought to be the most Trump-friendly of the battlegrounds. Barack Obama was the last Democratic presidential candidate to win the state in 2008.
Other super-PACs are ramping up spending as well. Trump-aligned Preserve America PAC launched its first round of advertising during the Olympics last month and plans to spend about $60 million through Labor Day, according to a person familiar with its plans.
Largely funded by Las Vegas Sands Corp. majority shareholder Miriam Adelson, the super-PAC expects to spend more than the $100 million it spent in 2020, the person said. It has focused most of its advertising on the border crisis.
“Preserve America is proudly committed to helping President Trump with an advertising campaign that will exceed what we spent in 2020,” said David Carney, the group’s senior adviser.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to inquiries about its planned ad spending through Labor Day. Future Forward PAC and American Bridge, both of which back Harris, also did not immediately respond to questions about their plans.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.