Super PACs Abandon 12-Plus Midterm Races as GOP Shifts $35 Million From Georgia, North Carolina
Updated
Updated · POLITICO · Nov 2
Super PACs Abandon 12-Plus Midterm Races as GOP Shifts $35 Million From Georgia, North Carolina
1 articles · Updated · POLITICO · Nov 2
Summary
More than a dozen Senate and House contests were effectively triaged before Election Day as both parties’ top super PACs cut late spending, with the pullbacks concentrated in races Republicans had once treated as front-line targets.
$35 million in TV ads had already gone into both Georgia and North Carolina from the GOP-aligned Senate Leadership Fund before it bailed out, redirecting money to protect incumbents in Kansas, South Carolina and Mississippi.
House Republicans also dropped spending against Democrats Henry Cuellar, Greg Landsman and Kristen McDonald Rivet, gave up on Don Bacon’s open Nebraska seat and shifted reservations into nearby battlegrounds such as TX-15, TX-34 and NY-17.
Democrats mirrored some of those moves to avoid wasting money after GOP retreats, though their own triage was narrower and included cuts in Tennessee’s 5th and an initial pullback in Florida’s 7th before returning to the air.
The late reshuffle underscores a broader map expansion that favored Democrats, forcing Republicans to defend seats in normally safer territory as national headwinds hit their candidates.