A total of $10.5 billion was spent on campaign ads during the 2024 election cycle, for elections ranging from president to county commissioner, according to data compiled by ad tracking firm AdImpact and analyzed by NPR.

This total represents an increase of $1 billion from four years ago.

Democrats have outspent Republicans, by $5 billion to $4.1 billion, since the start of the cycle, starting in January 2023. (Independent, third-party and nonpartisan groups account for the remainder.)

During this cycle, twenty-three states saw more than $100 million spent. But one state stands out above them all: Pennsylvania. An astonishing $1.2 billion was spent on ads in the state, the first time in U.S. history that a single state received more than $1 billion in ads.

Pennsylvania has been a political hotbed this cycle. In addition to the presidential campaign, which generated $576 million in advertising, the state also holds competitive elections for the Senate and House of Representatives. The Senate race brought in $344 million, and that’s not even the most money spent on a Senate race. That honor goes to Ohio, where about $518 million worth of ads were served.

Nationwide, about $3 billion was spent on the presidential election, including primaries. That’s slightly lower than 2020, but was skewed by former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg spending $586 million on ads for his failed Democratic primary effort. That’s almost as much as the $651 million President Biden’s campaign spent in the primary and general elections against former President Donald Trump.

About $2.6 billion of this year’s total was spent on the general election, which began unofficially after Super Tuesday in March.

Since March 6, Democrats — including the Biden and Harris campaigns, as well as outside groups supporting them — have outspent Republicans, between $1.6 million and $956 million.

The presidential campaign was concentrated in seven states. Nearly $4 out of every $5 spent on the presidential election went to Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada.

Democrats outspent Republicans in each of the seven states. The bulk, $578 million, went to none other than Pennsylvania. Each party spent more than a quarter of all its advertising money in the Keystone State.

The amount of money spent on the presidential election is remarkable compared to 2020, considering the reduced size of the field of competitive states and the fact that Florida is out of the ad spending field.

In 2020, $371 million was spent in the general election in Florida, an expensive place to buy ads because of its multiple media markets. This year, only $4 million was spent.

In 2020, the largest amount of money was spent on Georgia. He was hotly contested during the presidential election and had a second round in the Senate. But across all races in Georgia in 2020, $787 million was spent, nearly half a billion dollars less than spending in Pennsylvania this year. Georgia had the third highest spending specifically in this year’s presidential election, $304 million, behind Pennsylvania and Michigan ($376 million).

The biggest spenders this election include presidential campaigns, committees trying to elect Senate and House candidates, and several outside groups.

Here are the top 10 spenders:

1. Harris for President (D) $513 million

2. FF PAC (D) $441 million

3. MAGA Inc. (R) $360 million

4. WinSenate (D) $353 million

5. Trump for President (right) $327 million

6. Senate Leadership Fund (R) $224 million

7. Majority PAC in the House (D) $207 million

8. Congressional Leadership Fund (R) $201 million

9. Biden for President (D) $111 million

10. Harris Victory Fund (D) $111 million

The ads that make the most money come from outside groups:

$36 million: FF PAC

More money was spent on this announcementin progress since October 22, than on any other. This comes from the pro-Harris outside group, FF PAC. It highlights a man who calls himself “a lifelong Republican” and who voted for Trump twice, but is now voting for Harris.

$26.7 million: MAGA Inc.

This announcement focuses on Harris’ record as a prosecutor and attempts to portray her as a San Francisco liberal. It has been widely distributed since October 9 in five of the seven key states: North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Here are the two main campaign announcements:

Harris campaign: economic contrast

This contrasting announcement focuses on what Harris wants to do for the economy compared to Trump. The Harris campaign spent $19 million on the ad and distributed it widely.

Trump campaign: lower taxes

The Trump campaign left the heavy lifting in the ad race to MAGA Inc., the main outside group supporting his candidacy. The most the campaign spent on a single ad was this digital ad on ending taxes on Social Security benefits and tips.

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