WesleyanMediaProject

The Wesleyan Media Project tracks and analyzes political advertising by federal and gov candidates online and on TV in every media market in the country.

[WesleyanMediaProject @wesmediaproject]

Maine reached $60m in Senate ad spending, primarily from outside groups “One Nation” and “Pine Tree Results PAC” (spending at $20m and $5m respectively), both backing incumbent Republican Susan Collins over Democratic nominee Graham Platner.

Read more: https://t.co/Bql2rgAdwz

[WesleyanMediaProject @wesmediaproject]

💥NEW WMP report: Spending in the 2025-2026 midterm election cycle surpassed $2.2 billion in House, Senate, and Governor races, & the federal messaging is predominantly about Trump.

Full report: https://t.co/Bql2rgAdwz

Report by @tnridout1 @efranklinfowler @mmfranz.
@wesleyan_u

[WesleyanMediaProject @wesmediaproject]

While KY-04 remains the most costly House race at nearly $34m in total ad spending, primary races in NY-12 and MD-06 are both nearing $20m in ad spending.

Read more: https://t.co/Bql2rgAdwz

[WesleyanMediaProject @wesmediaproject]

Gubernatorial primaries attract big ad spending, with over $44M spent on political ads in just the last two weeks in California’s gubernatorial contests and over $17M spent in Georgia’s.

Full report: https://t.co/5LPRYnn7Vv

[WesleyanMediaProject @wesmediaproject]

💥NEW WMP report: Past Two Weeks Sees $210 Million in Ad Spending; $20 Million Spent on AI Ads This Cycle

Full report: https://t.co/5LPRYnn7Vv

Report by @tnridout1 @efranklinfowler @mmfranz.
@wesleyan_u

[WesleyanMediaProject @wesmediaproject]

The overall totals in the Texas Senate primaries (for both Democratic and Republican campaigns) topped $164 million. Several other Senate races have featured more than $3 million in ad spending in the last two weeks, including Alabama.

[WesleyanMediaProject @wesmediaproject]

Already, almost $150 million has been spent on advertising for the Texas Senate race.

Read the full report here: https://t.co/K1GStGMGBk

[WesleyanMediaProject @wesmediaproject]

💥NEW WMP report: Spending on campaign advertising in the 2025-2026 midterm election cycle in House, Senate, and gubernatorial races has totaled $700 million in just the past 2 months

Full report: https://t.co/K1GStGMGBk

By @tnridout1 @efranklinfowler @mmfranz
@wesleyan_u

[WesleyanMediaProject @wesmediaproject]

The totals for cycle-to-date spending (as of May 10th) are $1.7 billion (more than double the same period in 2023-2024 though races aren’t the same).

Read more: https://t.co/K1GStGMGBk

[WesleyanMediaProject @wesmediaproject]

Read more on other top races and spending: https://t.co/EP5m42sMjh

#2026election #politicalads

[WesleyanMediaProject @wesmediaproject]

💥 In case you missed our NEW WMP report from last week: 2026 midterm ad spending for U.S. House and U.S. Senate races reached $565M cycle-to-date.

Read full report: https://t.co/EP5m42sMjh

Report by @mmfranz @tnridout1 @efranklinfowler.
@wesleyan_u

[WesleyanMediaProject @wesmediaproject]

The total was boosted by high levels of spending from outside groups, which accounted for over 60 percent of total ad spending for both chambers of Congress.

[OpenSecrets.org @OpenSecretsDC]

Political ads on Google, Meta surged in the run-up to the election, per study by @BrennanCenter @wesmediaproject & OpenSecrets. Political advertising topped $1.35B on those platforms, with more spent 9/1 to Election Day than in the prior 20 months. https://t.co/o0BTznl2eq

[Michael S Roth @mroth78]

Final pre-Election Day report from @wesmediaproject underscores continuation of "extremely negative campaign" @wesleyan_u https://t.co/xezQTseZ7S

[WesleyanMediaProject @wesmediaproject]

Harris’ campaign is focused on women’s rights and abortion, while almost all of the Trump campaign’s ads have focused on the issue of taxes, and most have mentioned immigration.

Read more: https://t.co/XsQ1gcston

#2024election #politicalads

[WesleyanMediaProject @wesmediaproject]

💥 NEW report from WMP: More than $4.5 billion in ad spending this cycle - when digital ad spending is added to the mix, total spending tops $5 billion so far.

Read full report: https://t.co/XsQ1gcston

By: @mmfranz @tnridout1 @efranklinfowler
@OpenSecretsDC
@wesleyan_u

[WesleyanMediaProject @wesmediaproject]

In the past week, only a very small percentage of pro-Harris ads were positive, with most of them falling into the contrast category. The Trump campaign split its ads between contrast ads and attack ads.