Senate Republicans are preparing to spend big money in a bid to protect their majority this midterm cycle.
The Senate Leadership Fund (SLF) is dropping an initial $342 million ad buy across eight Senate races, the group with ties to Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced Monday.
Here’s the list of races they’re targeting (and the candidate they’ll likely be backing):
Ohio — Sen. Jon Husted: $79 million
North Carolina — Former RNC Chair Michael Whatley: $71 million
Michigan — Former Rep. Mike Rogers: $45 million
Georgia — Ongoing competitive primary with Rep. Mike Collins leading: $44 million
Maine — Sen. Susan Collins: $42 million
Iowa — Rep. Ashley Hinson: $29 million
New Hampshire — Former Sen. John Sununu: $17 million
Alaska — Sen. Dan Sullivan: $15 million
This is SLF’s largest investment ever in Michigan and Georgia and the largest since 2016 in New Hampshire. It’s also notable that this is the first time SLF has spent on offense in three swing states held by Democrats (Georgia, Michigan, and New Hampshire).
The ad buy comes amid positive polling signs from CNN’s data analyst, Harry Enten. Enten said Monday that Republicans are overperforming historic midterm trends.
In 2018, the last time a Republican president was in office during a midterm cycle, Democrats held an eight-point lead on the generic congressional ballot. In 2006, they held an 11-point lead.
This time around, Democrats only lead by five points on the generic ballot.
“You’d make the argument Democrats should be way ahead, and they’re just only sort of slightly ahead … I think five points is enough to take back the House, but in the Senate, five points is almost certainly not enough if you apply it to the Senate map,” Enten explained.
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