Ad of the week: I’m not your candidate

Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria is the only member of the January 6th Select Committee whose re-election is uncertain, but in the final days of this election, she’s turning her membership of that committee into a strength. In what may be her last campaign ad, she takes a clear stand for American democracy:

Politics used to be about serving. Today, it’s about winning at all costs. That’s not me. And if standing up for what’s right means losing an election, so be it. If you’re looking for someone who will say anything just to win, I’m not your candidate. If you support insurrectionists, or call our military weak, I’m not your candidate. If you attack the FBI and defend Donald Trump, I’m not your candidate. And if you believe the 2020 election was stolen, I’m definitely not your candidate. But if you believe that our democracy, and our constitution are worth fighting for, and you want a congresswoman who will always stand up for what’s right, then I’m Elaine Luria, I approve this message, and I AM your candidate.

Quick facts:

• The top spending House candidate on digital ads last week was Democrat Katie Porter in CA-47 who spent $144,714.

• The state with the most expensive competitive House races online last week was California, where candidates in the state’s competitive races spent a combined $238,253 on Meta + Google ads.

• Democratic candidates in competitive races spent $1,215,085 on Meta + Google ads last week, while Republican candidates spent $371,105.

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Ad of the week: Opposes earmarks

We’re getting down to the wire here, and most ads from House Democrats in tough races carry similar messages, especially regarding abortion and police. Katie Porter in Orange County’s CA-47 appears to be in a unique position as the only Dem in the chamber to oppose earmarks - a pretty inside-baseball term. Still, in her latest YouTube ads, she turns it into a pretty easy-to-understand concept in just a few seconds. She’s also been spending very heavily online for a House candidate, which is pretty smart considering how crowded the greater Los Angeles ad market is in the final weeks of the election.

Quick facts:

• The top spending House candidate on digital ads last week was Democrat Katie Porter in CA-47 who spent $141,390.

• The state with the most expensive competitive House races online last week was California, where candidates in the state’s competitive races spent a combined $219,856 on Meta + Google ads.

• Democratic candidates in competitive races spent $1,178,825 on Meta + Google ads last week, while Republican candidates spent $290,178.

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Ad of the week: I support Jared 🦞

The lobsterman vote in Maine is clearly no joke. Democrat Jared Golden’s 2nd district represents half the state’s coast, so it’s no wonder that the two-term conservative put out a video ad that simply features lobstermen and their family members stating that they support him for Congress. We’ll also note that Golden is running a smart ad campaign targeting the district’s seniors that promote his commitment to Social Security while highlighting his opponent’s moves to cut it.

Quick facts:

• The top spending House candidate on digital ads last week was Democrat Katie Porter in CA-47 who spent $107,380.

• The state with the most expensive competitive House races online last week was California, where candidates in the state’s competitive races spent a combined $215,710 on Meta + Google ads.

• Democratic candidates in competitive races spent $1,070,458 on Meta + Google ads last week, while Republican candidates spent $261,139.

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Ad of the week: Sharice Davids

Most U.S. House candidates run all their Meta ads out of their campaign page. Democrat Sharice Davids in KS-03, however, is running ads from not one, not two, but three pages: her campaign page, of course, but also two pages dedicated to using boosted news to attack her GOP opponent, Amanda Adkins. One, called “Adkins-Brownback 2022”, ties her to Kansas’ extremely unpopular former governor who decimated the state’s public school system, and the other, “Abortion Ban Amanda”, as the name implies, attacks her abortion stance.

Quick facts:

• The top spending House candidate on digital ads last week was Democrat Katie Porter in CA-47 who spent $89,588.

• The state with the most expensive competitive House races online last week was California, where candidates in the state’s competitive races spent a combined $202,056 on Meta + Google ads.

• Democratic candidates in competitive races spent $955,970 on Meta + Google ads last week, while Republican candidates spent $238,245.

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Ad of the week: More affordable clean energy

When it comes to energy policy, most Republicans running in competitive U.S. House districts are screaming “Drill, baby, drill!” Not Erik Aadland, the GOPer running in CO-07. Now that the primary’s well behind him (as we pointed out on Twitter this week), he’s trying to appeal to the district’s more sustainability-minded voters by running a bipartisan “all-of-the-above energy mix” playbook that fossil fuel groups love. He’s also running an over-the-top satirical portrayal of his Democratic opponent, Brittany Petterson, which you’ll just have to go over to the Ad Library to see for yourself.

Quick facts:

• The top spending House candidate on digital ads last week was Democrat Katie Porter in CA-47 who spent $69,328.

• The state with the most expensive competitive House races online last week was California, where candidates in the state’s competitive races spent a combined $185,155 on Meta + Google ads.

• Democratic candidates in competitive races spent $789,493 on Meta + Google ads last week, while Republican candidates spent $242,135.

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Ad of the week: Vietnamese Americans for Michelle Steel

Right on the heels of Democrat Jay Chen running a massive six-figure multilingual digital persuasion campaign, incumbent Republican Michelle Steel has reactivated her page focused on Vietnamese outreach. Last cycle, she used it to attack then-incumbent Harley Rouda, and now she’s using her Vietnamese ads to highlight her opposition to the Chinese Communist Party and support for Taiwan. FWIW, these ads primarily target older residents of CA-45.

Dân Biểu Michelle Steel là tiếng nói chống Cộng của chúng ta khi bà đã nhiều lần lên án Đảng Cộng Sản Trung Quốc vì các vi phạm nhân quyền của nhóm này cho đến việc bà mạnh dạng ủng hộ Đài Loan.

Congresswoman Michelle Steel is our anti-Communist voice as she has repeatedly denounced the Chinese Communist Party for its human rights abuses to her outspoken support of Taiwan.

Quick facts:

• The top spending House candidate on digital ads last week was Democrat Katie Porter in CA-47 who spent $98,959.

• The state with the most expensive competitive House races online last week was California, where candidates in the state’s competitive races spent a combined $171,026 on Meta + Google ads.

• Democratic candidates in competitive races spent $713,415 on Meta + Google ads last week, while Republican candidates spent $225,262.

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Ad of the week: As a former prosecutor…

Democrat Will Rollins is running in a tough R+7 district against GOP Rep. Ken Calvert in the Inland Empire’s CA-42, but in his latest ads, he’s going on offense. Like countless other Democrats, he’s attacking Calvert for his opposition to abortion and his support of insurrectionists - all while highlighting Rollins’ own creds as a counterterrorism expert.

Quick facts:

• The top spending gubernatorial candidate on digital ads last week was Democrat Jay Chen in CA-45 who spent $131,116.

• The state with the most expensive competitive House races online last week was California, where candidates in the state’s competitive races spent a combined $206,268 on Meta + Google ads.

• Democratic candidates in competitive races spent $704,409 on Meta + Google ads last week, while Republican candidates spent $169,235.

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Ad of the week: Jay Chen spends big on persuasion

Last week, Democrat Jay Chen in Orange County-based CA-45 spent a whopping $139k on digital ads attacking freshman GOP Rep. Michelle Steel and boosting his own image. This is a really unusual move for a House candidate at this point in the race, especially since almost all of these ads are dedicated to persuading voters instead of fundraising. More impressive than the spend itself is the sheer breadth of this new campaign; over dozens of ads, Chen is attacking her over her financial ties to the pharmaceutical, fossil fuel, and gun industries, while also highlighting his military service. What’s more, many of the ads are entirely in Chinese and Vietnamese.

Quick facts:

• The top spending gubernatorial candidate on digital ads last week was Democrat Jay Chen in CA-45 who spent $139,016.

• The state with the most expensive competitive House races online last week was California, where candidates in the state’s competitive races spent a combined $193,234 on Meta + Google ads.

• Democratic candidates in competitive races spent $548,841 on Meta + Google ads last week, while Republican candidates spent $124,526.

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Ad of the week: Virginians Against Vega

As we’ve seen all year, most U.S. House campaigns often don’t have either the capacity or the will to run robust digital ad campaigns. Democrat Abigail Spanberger’s campaign in VA-07 is not one of them; last week, she started running oppo ads against her Republican opponent, Yesli Vega, through a separate branded page called “Virginians Against Vega.” Spanberger is using the page to attack her opponent over Todd Akin-esque remarks about abortion:

Yesli Vega’s been making headlines across the country lately. Why? She suggested that women who are raped are less likely to become pregnant. She’s wrong. Her views don’t represent Virginia.

Quick facts:

• The top spending gubernatorial candidate on digital ads last week was Democrat Elissa Slotkin in MI-07 who spent $25,502.

• The state with the most expensive competitive House races online last week was Pennsylvania, where candidates in the state’s competitive races spent a combined $42,533 on Meta + Google ads.

• Democratic candidates in competitive races spent $316,045 on Meta + Google ads last week, while Republican candidates spent $92,886.

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Ad of the week: The real Scott Baugh

No other candidate for U.S. House has spent as much on Snapchat ads this year as Katie Porter, who’s spent $24k on the platform. Most recently, she’s rolled out a new Snap campaign attacking her GOP opponent, Scott Baugh, calling out his corruption both in and out of elected office.

Quick facts:

• The top spending gubernatorial candidate on digital ads last week was Democrat Kim Schrier in WA-08 who spent $25,777.

• The state with the most expensive competitive House races online last week was Pennsylvania, where candidates in the state’s competitive races spent a combined $33,448 on Meta + Google ads.

• Democratic candidates in competitive races spent $270,579 on Meta + Google ads last week, while Republican candidates spent $106,246.

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Ad of the week: Think bigger and work harder

Elissa Slotkin, who’s running for re-election in the new MI-07 in southern Michigan, just launched the first major digital ad buy of her campaign. She highlights her military and civil service, her professional temperament, and her constituent outreach. Her campaign particularly highlights the latter by showing clips of Slotkin speaking in towns across her district.

Quick facts:

• The top spending gubernatorial candidate on digital ads last week was Democrat Sean Patrick Maloney in NY-17, who spent $23,490.

• The state with the most expensive competitive House races online last week was New York, where candidates spent a combined $46,360 on Meta + Google ads.

• Democratic candidates in competitive races spent $224,872 on Meta + Google ads last week, while Republican candidates spent $86,872.

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Ad of the week: Pay More Patti

Josh Harder in Stockton-based CA-09 has doubled his digital ad spending in recent weeks, primarily to attack his Republican opponent, San Joaquin County Supervisor Tom Patti over his votes to increase drug and gas prices for county residents. We also want to shout out the Harder campaign for running a parallel Meta ad campaign boosting positive news stories about the congressman through a news-esque page called “Stockton Now,” a smart tactic that isn’t typically used by campaigns of this size.

Quick facts:

• The top spending gubernatorial candidate on digital ads last week was Democrat Abigail Spanberger in VA-07, who spent $24,893.

• The state with the most expensive competitive House races online last week was New York, where candidates spent a combined $39,073 on Meta + Google ads.

• Democratic candidates in competitive races spent $214,720 on Meta + Google ads last week, while Republican candidates spent $65,868.

The below data is displayed as combined Meta + Google ad spend for the week of 8/7 - 8/13. Italicized names represent an incumbent. For breakouts of platform-specific spending numbers by week, click here.

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Ad of the week: Scheller is Out for Herself

Susan Wild has represented PA-07, which encompasses an area around Allentown, PA, along the eastern border of the state, since the Blue Wave of 2018. Now, she’s made one of the biggest investments in digital ads among House candidates this cycle - and she’s using it to attack her opponent, Lisa Scheller. Check it out:

Quick facts:

• The top spending gubernatorial candidate on digital ads last week was Democrat Susan Wild in PA-07, who spent $36,980

• The state with the most expensive competitive House races online last week was Pennsylvania, where candidates spent a combined $54,241 on Meta + Google ads.

• Democratic candidates in competitive races spent $206,121 on Meta + Google ads last week, while Republican candidates spent $50,435.

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