House GOP super PAC adds $45M to fall advertising
House Republicans’ chief super PAC is booking another $45 million in fall advertising — a massive sum that will further define the congressional battleground as the GOP fights national headwinds to narrow Democrats' majority.
The new buys, which are spread across 40 media markets, bring Congressional Leadership Fund’s total investment for the cycle to nearly $90 million, according to plans shared first with POLITICO. They include broadcast, cable and digital ads, as well as funding for mail programs, and will cover a mix of offensive and defensive targets.
The group, which has close ties to House GOP leadership, is using the reservations to ratchet up the pressure on some of the most endangered Democratic incumbents, like Reps. Kendra Horn (D-Okla.) and Ben McAdams (D-Utah). But it is also spending to protect some Republican districts once thought to be safe, like Montana’s at-large district and an open GOP-held seat on Long Island.
“We’re doubling down in top winnable offense races and shoring up a much smaller group of key defense seats,” CLF President Dan Conston said in a statement. “The House battlefield is being fought predominantly in conservative-leaning Democrat-held districts where we have great recruits who can make the sale to voters.”
CLF made its first TV reservations in April, dropping $43 million. This second round builds on many of those, doubling or nearly doubling the group’s initial spending in several markets by adding $3.5 million in Iowa, $3.4 million in upstate New York, $3.2 million in Houston, $2.5 million in Minnesota and $2.3 million in Los Angeles.
And it includes a new offensive target that was not in the April batch. CLF booked $2.7 million in Miami, a huge bet on Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez’s odds against Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-Fla.) in a South Florida district that Hillary Clinton won by 16 points.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/10/house-gop-super-pac-adds-45m-to-fall-advertising-393071
