A Great Blue Battle in the Great Lakes State
Also inside: a PAC owned by two tech billionaires playing for moderates in CA, Team Sherrod’s Snap ads on Epstein, the official “fun drought” and more
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Hey guys 👋👋👋 Lucy here again, fresh out of my first year of law school and ready to lock in on a summer full of high-stakes primaries 🫠 ICYMI, I am also writing a new newsletter called Group Chat Correspondent – if you enjoy politics x culture x tech, come hang out!!!
Otherwise, we’re tackling a big one today: the Michigan Democratic Senate primary, where Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, State Senator Mallory McMorrow, and Congresswoman Haley Stevens are battling it out.
More on that below, but first…
Digital ad spending, by the numbers:
FWIW, U.S. political advertisers spent about $15.3 million on Facebook and Instagram ads last week. Here were the top ten spenders nationwide:
An account (with a very scammy/sketchy vibe) called The Patriotic Prophet spent ~$194,000 on “prophetic” economic advice videos (possibly using AI people) tied to Donald Trump’s alleged secret plans for the upcoming America 250 celebration. These ads are running nationwide, with the messaging appearing to be oriented toward people who are planning to retire soon.
On the flip side, but still very much in a religious vein, Adam Hamilton, a Democratic candidate for US Senate in Kentucky and pastor of the country’s largest Methodist church, dropped ~$181,000, a spend that includes fundraising ads running mostly in Kansas (but also in Missouri, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and a few other states) that share a peek into his messaging strategy; they read: “I’ve led a diverse congregation of Democrats, Republicans and Independents – people from all walks of life united by their faith and their common desire to serve their neighbors and address the problems of our world.” The era of the white Democratic religious leader Senate candidate continues…
Meanwhile, political advertisers spent nearly $14.5 million on Google and YouTube ads last week. These were the top ten spenders nationwide:
Grow California, a group backed by two tech billionaires trying to install more business-friendly Democrats and Republicans as a “counterforce” to labor, spent $311,000 this past week getting involved in several CA state senate and state assembly races.
And speaking of California, which has its primary day in less than three weeks, more than $6.3 million of this week’s $14.5 million Google + YouTube political ad spend came from the Golden State alone.
On X (formerly Twitter), political advertisers in the U.S. have spent around $1.8 million on ads in 2025. According to X’s political ad disclosure, here are the top spenders year to date:
…and lastly, on Snapchat, political advertisers in the U.S. have spent around $1.2 million on ads in 2025. Here are the top spenders year to date:
Fmr. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s campaign appears to have recently dropped some new Snap ads, taking a swing at Republican opponent Jon Husted for his connections to the Epstein criminal enterprise.
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A Great Blue Battle in the Great Lakes State
If you’ve followed politics at all this year, you’ve probably encountered the Michigan Democratic primary many times over. The August 2026 race has essentially boiled down to three major candidates: Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, State Senator Mallory McMorrow, and Congresswoman Haley Stevens. And, given Michigan’s status as a key battleground state, the race has gotten… pretty intense and rife with controversy.
As we head into the summer, polling shows El-Sayed with a very slight edge, though it’s looking more like a dead heat.
So how, exactly, is all of this playing out online? Zooming in on Michigan specifically, over the last 90 days (February 11 – May 11), campaigns and political advertisers have spent $5.4 million on Facebook and Instagram ads in the state and another $2.7 on Google + YouTube over the same period.
Looking at the candidates themselves (who are spending both inside and outside of Michigan, which is normal), here’s where things stand.
Please note, this graph only accounts for spending by the campaigns directly, not by outside groups (which is a key distinction because outside spending has been a big point of contention in this race).
FWIW, it doesn’t appear that any campaign itself is running political ads on Snap or X/Twitter.
On the organic side, here’s how each campaign’s follower count stacks up on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X/Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky.
Please note that this doesn’t account for duplicate followers, i.e., folks who are following candidates across multiple platforms. Here, McMorrow seems to have the overall edge – although it’s interesting that on Facebook and TikTok, El-Sayed leads the pack.
If you’re content-curious like me, here are the most-liked Instagram posts from Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, and Rep. Haley Steven’s campaign accounts over the last 90 days, according to InsTrack.
And here are what appear to be the most-viewed TikTok videos (per TikTok) from Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, State Sen. Malloy McMorrow, and Rep. Haley Stevens over the last 90 days.
All in all, we are 81 days from the big (primary) one in Michigan… and it feels like anything could happen. Stay tuned! 🧤
More from around the internet:
According to new data, for the first time, Anthropic has more verified business customers (i.e., businesses paying for its services) than OpenAI.
Andreessen Horowitz, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm, is officially the 2026 midterms’ biggest spender thus far, having dropped a whopping $115.5 million, mostly to support pro-crypto and pro-AI organizations and candidates.
According to Dave & Buster’s first-ever “State of Fun” report (yes, it’s a real thing!), we are in a “fun drought” with 48% of Americans stating that their lives are lacking fun.
Please take our money…
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Shaughnessy Naughton, 314 Action President
Stay tuned for more speaker announcements, and don’t miss this conversation. RSVP today!
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