Republicans are outspending Democrats in nearly every top 2026 battleground — a reversal of the last three cycles. Democrats held 53–54% of battleground Senate ad spending in 2020, 2022 and 2024; through September 30, 2026, Republicans hold 60%. The money is heavily concentrated: Texas and Ohio alone account for roughly half of all competitive-Senate ad spending. Below is the aired ad spending for each of the 40 states with tracked Senate, governor and House races, sorted from highest to lowest, with the Democratic–Republican split for each.
Aired ad spending by party for the 15 highest-spending states, September 8–27, 2026. Democrats extend left, Republicans right; the scale is the same on both sides, in millions of dollars.
Source: Wesleyan Media Project analysis of AdImpact data (release of Oct 1, 2026), Senate + gubernatorial + House general-election ads. Full figures for all states are in the table below.
Aired advertising, September 8–27, 2026, Senate + governor + House races combined. The party split applies the Wesleyan Media Project’s published pro-Democratic share for each race to that race’s total, so rows may not sum exactly. Click a column heading to re-sort; tap “Gap” to rank by how lopsided a state is.
Aired ads · Sep 8–27, 2026 · Wesleyan Media Project / AdImpact| # | State | Dem $M | Rep $M | Total $M | Split | Gap | Leader |
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Two later AdImpact snapshots sit on top of the table above: Senate-race ads aired through September 30, and ad time already reserved for the final stretch. Reservations are bookings, not spending — they can be canceled or moved.
Nine Cook-rated battleground Senate races; $935M+ aired, Republicans 60% / Democrats 40%, Republicans ahead in 8 of 9 races. AdImpact, published Oct 1, 2026.
| State | Total | Rep | Dem | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas est. | ~$239M | ~$150M | ~$89M | R +$61M |
| Ohio | ~$200M | ~$120.5M | ~$79.5M | R +$41M |
| Maine | ~$110M | ~$68.5M | ~$41.5M | R +$27M |
| Iowa | ~$75M | ~$46M | ~$29M | R +$17M |
| North Carolina | ~$82M | split not published | R lead <$12M | |
| Michigan | total not published | R +$15M | ||
| Alaska | total not published | R +$12M | ||
| Georgia | ~$79M | not one of AdImpact’s nine; Democrats led the Sep 8–27 all-race window’s Senate ads | ||
| Kansas / New Hampshire | in the nine-race total; per-state splits not published. One of the nine races was Democratic-led through Sep 30 — AdImpact did not name it. | |||
Texas total is derived: AdImpact reports Ohio + Texas = 47% of the $935M; with Ohio at ~$200M, Texas is ~$239M, split using its published $61M gap. Treat Texas figures as estimates. Sources: AdImpact blog (Oct 1, 2026); state totals via Fox49 / TNND.
$513M booked as of early October, 61% Republican (~$313M R vs ~$200M D); 83% comes from issue groups ($272M R / $155M D). AdImpact via Insideradio, ~Oct 7, 2026.
Ohio holds the most future reservations, with a Republican edge of $32M; Texas has the largest partisan gap in reservations (Republicans +80%). An earlier Bloomberg snapshot of toss-up reservations had Maine at R $37M vs D $24M and Texas at R $59M vs D $4M. Source: Insideradio (AdImpact).
Who is outspending whom in the states that matter most, combining the September 8–27 window with the aired-through-September-30 Senate figures.
Republicans outspent Democrats roughly 3.5-to-1 in the Sep 8–27 window ($120.4M vs $34.6M) and lead aired Senate spending by $61M through Sep 30. Future Senate reservations: R $59M vs D $4M. Republican outside groups (Senate Leadership Fund / Texas PAC, MAGA Inc) account for about 98% of pro-Paxton advertising.
Republicans led the window by $34.8M and aired Senate spending by $41M through Sep 30 (~$200M total, the most expensive Senate race). Ohio also holds the most future reservations, $137.5M. Democratic money is candidate-led (Sherrod Brown, $41M); Republican money is group-led.
Republicans led the all-race window by $12.2M and the Senate race by $15M through Sep 30. One exception: Democrats lead Michigan’s gubernatorial ad spending, 56% pro-Democratic.
Republicans led the window by $8.3M and aired Senate spending by $17M through Sep 30 (~$75M total). Iowa’s three House races add roughly another $20M, approximately evenly split.
A split state: Senate ads favored Democrats 62–63% in both September windows, with Jon Ossoff outspending his challengers, but the governor’s race is about 90% pro-Republican (behind Brian Jackson), giving Republicans the combined edge.
Republicans led the window by $3.3M and aired Senate spending by $27M through Sep 30 (~$110M total — about $419 per adult resident, the highest per-capita rate in the nation per KPI). Roughly 76–79% of Maine Senate ads are group-sponsored, mostly pro-Collins. Future reservations: R $37M vs D $24M.
Republicans led the window by $3.8M and hold a lead under $12M in ~$82M of aired Senate spending through Sep 30. Both parties recently paused October reservations here — the Senate Leadership Fund is shifting funds to Kansas — as Roy Cooper leads in polling.
Republicans led the all-race window by $8.1M and aired Senate spending by $12M through Sep 30.
Democratic-led states of note in the window: Pennsylvania (governor’s race ~100% pro-Democratic), Arizona (governor 82% pro-Democratic), Virginia (House-heavy), California, Oregon, New Mexico, Illinois and South Carolina (Senate).
The figures above are tracked advertising. FEC-based numbers measure something else — cash raised and held by candidates, party committees and super PACs — and are kept separate here. Q3 FEC reports were due October 15, 2026, and OpenSecrets’ state-by-state aggregates had not been refreshed as of October 14, so no current FEC spending breakdown by state exists yet.
For scale, two forecasts — projections, not spending: KPI projects $10.35B in total 2026 cycle ad spending (largest states: Michigan $980M, California $900M, Georgia $840M, Ohio $775M), and AdImpact projected $11.6B in June 2026. Sources: thedesk.net (KPI forecast); Reuters, Jun 11, 2026.