$BILLION Battle for House
Advertising totals reveal parties’ positioning in battle for House
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Sheldon Adelson, right, talks with then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Jerusalem on May 23, 2017. Adelson has donated heavily to the House GOP’s allied super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund. (Evan Vucci/AP)
By Robert Costa
September 16 at 5:17 PM
Republicans and Democrats are taking starkly different approaches to advertising as they race to win control of the U.S. House, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.
Many Republicans are looking to outside money to lift them in the airtime wars, and the House GOP’s allied super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund, has been this cycle’s dominant spender on television and radio, the documents show.
House Democrats are following a more traditional route. Their campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, is outpacing both its allied super PAC, the House Majority PAC, and its rival, the National Republican Congressional Committee — but lags behind the cash-flush GOP super PAC.
Through Sept. 12, the Congressional Leadership Fund — supported by House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and mega donors such as casino mogul Sheldon Adelson — has reserved more than $71 million in advertising, nearly $30 million more than the NRCC’s $42 million.
Meanwhile, the DCCC has reserved about $55 million in TV and radio ads through Sept. 12 — far behind the House GOP’s super PAC but $13 million more than the NRCC.
Unlike a super PAC, which is forbidden under federal law from coordinating with the official parties, party committees such as the NRCC and the DCCC can work directly with members on strategy and can provide staffing and field assistance.
The House Majority PAC, which is backed by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), has reserved $43 million, the documents show.
[The people pouring millions into the 2018 elections]
The Congressional Leadership Fund has spent heavily to bolster vulnerable Republicans in Florida, Minnesota, Kansas and Virginia, among other states, often pouring millions into traditionally conservative areas and suburban districts that are critical to holding the House GOP’s 23-seat majority.
A number of the CLF’s recent ad campaigns have been criticized by Democrats as racially charged and deeply personal. CLF has defended its ads, saying they inform voters about “extreme, liberal” Democrats.
On the Democratic side, the House Majority PAC has spent extensively in blue states such as Illinois, New Jersey and California where it sees opportunities to knock off Republican incumbents, as well as in red states.
The NRCC and DCCC, which have battled in several special elections, are often making buys similar to their allied super PACs, but they are also sometimes boosting members who do not have super PAC support.
In Virginia’s 10th Congressional District, for example, Rep. Barbara Comstock (R) has received more than $4.8 million in television advertising support from the NRCC, but the House GOP’s super PAC has not spent a dollar to bolster her on television or radio.
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The documents were compiled by a market research firm and acknowledged as accurate by officials in both parties who track advertising. The Post was given the memos by three Republicans who were not authorized to share them.
The totals show reservations through Sept. 12, marking planned purchases of television and radio time, but not necessarily completed transactions.
They also do not include digital advertising efforts and represent a slice of overall spending. A network of other national and state committees and outside groups also is spending millions this year.
The NRCC, which assured members this month that “the cavalry is coming,” has pledged to spend at least $62 million on advertising. The NRCC last reported about $67 million on hand, while the DCCC reported about $72 million, based on federal election reports.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, more than $1 billion has been injected into the battle for the House in the 2018 election cycle, with Democrats well ahead of Republicans in the total raised: about $625 million compared with $471 million for the GOP.
The latest round of advertising buys comes at a difficult moment for House Republicans. Voters’ antipathy for President Trump is fueling Democratic enthusiasm nationally, and a Post-ABC News poll released this month found that registered voters favor the Democratic candidate over the GOP candidate in their district by a 14-point margin, 52 percent to 38 percent.
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