With Election Day just around the corner, just under $1 billion was spent on political ads during the past week’s election, according to data from ad tracking company AdImpact.
The $994 million is almost a tenth of the more than $10 billion spent on political ads so far since the start of 2023, in just seven days. And while Election Day may put a temporary halt to the spending spree that has seemingly dominated every TV commercial in recent weeks, it’s not over yet: There’s still more than $300 million in future ad time booked between Sunday and Tuesday.
The most expensive race of the past week is, unsurprisingly, the presidential race, with more than $272 million spent on advertising, according to data from AdImpact. Former President Donald Trump’s campaign narrowly outspent Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign by more than $43.4 million to $40.7 million between Oct. 27 and Nov. 2, but Democratic super PACs helped the party during that period narrowly more than Republicans spend in the presidential race.
The vast majority of the nearly $1 billion spent on advertising this week went into down-ballot races across the country, as candidates and outside groups spent furiously in races for Congress, the state House, key ballot questions and other races .
More than $267 million has been spent on ads in down-ballot races, meaning all other races outside of the races for president, governor and Congress.
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The two races generating the most spending are in Florida, with $19 million in ad spending for the ballot referendum on abortion rights and about $18.5 million for the ballot referendum on marijuana legalization there.
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Another election race saw more than $10 million spent on advertising last week: California’s referendum on rent control.
Senate races have raised $227 million so far.
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Three Senate races each raised more than $30 million in the past week: Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania.
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Wisconsin and Michigan are at the next level, with more than $23 million in spending last week.
House races have generated more than $208 million in ad spending.
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New York’s 19th District (where Republican Rep. Marc Molinaro is trying to hold his ground against Democrat Josh Riley) has seen the most, with nearly $9 million in ad spending.
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California’s 45th District, a race featuring Republican Reps. Michelle Steel and Derek Tran, has the second-highest amount of ad spending at about $7.5 million, followed closely by California’s 27th District, where Republican Rep. Mike Garcia faces Democrat George Whitesides.
Governors races generated just $18 million in ad spend last week, thanks to a relative lack of competitive races this cycle.
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New Hampshire’s open gubernatorial race, featuring Republican former Senator Kelly Ayotte and Democratic former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig, has the most ad spending ($6.7 million).
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
