Democratic candidates and their allies have spent more than $163 million since Sept. 1 on television ads that mention President Donald Trump, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.
The ads have aired nearly 180,000 times on broadcast, cable and streaming. Republicans have run ads mentioning the president about 16,000 times over the same period, at an estimated cost of $11 million.
Republicans say the numbers show Democrats have nothing else to run on. "Democrats are lighting money on fire talking about President Trump because they have no agenda other than investigation, obstruction and impeachment," said Republican National Committee spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre. "Trump Derangement Syndrome isn't a policy platform, it's a $160 million way of saying you have nothing to offer to the American people." Trump himself has said he wants voters to treat the midterms as if he were on the ballot.
Many of the Democratic ads tie Republican candidates to Trump on tariffs, the Iran war and rising costs. Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia has spent nearly $3 million on one ad attacking his opponent, Rep. Mike Collins. In Pennsylvania, every Democratic ad against Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick has mentioned Trump, even though Fitzpatrick voted against the president's tariffs.
Republican ads have focused mostly on taxes and crime. Republican strategist Alex Conant said Democrats "want to equate a vote for a Republican candidate to a vote for Trump," while the GOP is testing a wider range of messages. Since Sept. 1, Democrats have spent or reserved $1.8 billion on ads in all races, compared with $2.2 billion for Republicans.
Photo: Photo by Gage Skidmore, April 17, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
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