A prominent Republican super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is canceling nearly $10 million in ad spending in Arizona and Alaska.
The Senate Leadership Fund is cutting about $8 million in advertising from the Arizona Senate race in which GOP candidate Blake Masters hopes to unseat incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly. The ads were supposed to start after Labor Day, but will now start in early October.
Republicans need only a net gain of one Senate seat to flip the upper chamber. In addition to Arizona, the November election will include some other crucial Senate races, including in Georgia, Nevada, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
But Republicans are trailing Democrats in the polls in some key battleground states, including Masters in Arizona.
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A prominent Republican super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Ky., is canceling nearly $10 million in ad spending in Arizona and Alaska. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
The super PAC’s move to cancel the ad is due, in part, to its $28 million investment in Ohio. GOP candidate JD Vance and Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio are facing off in the state Senate race.
“We’re leaving the door wide open in Arizona, but we want to shift additional resources to other aggressive opportunities that have become increasingly competitive, as well as an unexpected cost in Ohio,” Senate Leadership Fund Chairman Steven Law told Politico. “We believe the fundamentals of this election strongly favor Republicans, we see multiple paths to winning the majority, and we will invest heavily and strategically to achieve that goal.”
However, the team has no plans to pull out of Arizona entirely. The super PAC initially invested about $14.4 million in the Arizona Senate race.
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The Senate Leadership Fund is cutting about $8 million in advertising from the Arizona Senate race in which GOP candidate Blake Masters, right, hopes to unseat incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, left. The ads were supposed to start after Labor Day, but will now start in early October.
The super PAC’s cut in Arizona spending will likely give Kelly a significant advantage this fall when it comes to funds. The incumbent senator and Democratic groups have more than $40 million set aside for the fall, compared to the Republicans’ $18 million before the super PAC pulled the ad investment, according to AdImpact.
The McConnell-backed agency also cut two weeks, or about $1.7 million, of advertising in Alaska in a move Law said was a show of confidence in incumbent Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
“We are all-in for Senator Murkowski. Senator Murkowski is in a very strong position and based on that he decided to delay the start date,” Law said.
Ads supporting Murkowski’s election campaign will now begin on September 20.
The McConnell-backed agency also cut two weeks, or about $1.7 million, of advertising in Alaska in a move Law said was a show of confidence in incumbent Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Murkowski advanced to the top four in the general election with about 45 percent of the GOP primary vote, ahead of Trump-endorsed Kelly Tshibaka’s 39 percent. The general election will be determined by ranked-choice voting.
The super PAC said its cuts in Arizona and Alaska don’t mean the group is in financial trouble, telling Politico it’s “right now several million ahead of where we were for August at this point in 2020.”
