Adam Frisch is not messing around
After narrowly losing to Rep. Lauren Boebert in 2022, the Colorado Democrat is outspending and outraising her online
In 2022, Democrat Adam Frisch shocked most political observers when he narrowly lost by just over 500 votes in his bid to unseat Rep. Lauren Boebert in Colorado’s Republican-leaning 3rd Congressional district. In February, Frisch announced he would seek a rematch, and has spent the majority of 2023 building a massive online grassroots army of donors to take on Boebert next year.
In this week’s FWIW, we’ll break down the Democrat’s heavy digital spending in that race, and much more. But first…
By the numbers
FWIW, political advertisers spent just over $10.8 million on Facebook and Instagram ads last week. These were the top ten spenders nationwide:
The right-wing Daily Wire was once again the top-spending political advertiser on Facebook last week. The company is spending heavily to promote its reactionary, anti-trans comedy film, Lady Ballers - in which a group of men decide to form a women's basketball team.
Meanwhile, a scammy group called the Liberty Defender Group (which doesn’t actually have a website but seems to be linked to this bare-bones site called Revolution Red) spent $60,000 last week on video ads bashing Biden and asking people to defend Trump in 2024. The ads are largely focused on hawking MAGA merch - a very common practice used by dozens of LLCs on the Right.
Meanwhile, political campaigns spent $1.2 million on Google and YouTube ads last week. Here were the top ten spenders nationwide:
The Koch Brothers’ Americans for Prosperity Action began spending on Google and YouTube ads last week boosting Nikki Haley in a last-ditch effort to stop Donald Trump from seizing the GOP presidential nomination. Here’s one ad the group is running, targeting Iowa:
…and on Snapchat, political campaigns and organizations in the United States have spent around $2.8 million on advertising in 2023. Here are the top ten spenders YTD:
Your 2024 digital dispatch
FWIW, here’s how much money the 2024 presidential candidates and their affiliated PACs have spent on Facebook + Google ads to date (1/1 - 12/2):
…and here’s how weekly digital ad spending compares between the Trump and Biden campaigns (this data includes MAGA Inc, a super PAC supporting Donald Trump):
As the GOP primary reaches a fever pitch, Ron DeSantis is still spending far less on digital ads than he was during the summer and early fall of this year
Chris Christie went after Vivek Ramaswamy on the debate stage on Wednesday night (and called him an “obnoxious blowhard”) after Ramaswamy insulted Nikki Haley
Donald Trump told Sean Hannity that he would only be a dictator on Day One of his second term (which gave Democratic candidates an excellent sound bite to fundraise with)
From around the internet:
- breaks down how we should be talking about Trump’s “I’d only be a dictator on Day One” remark and how Americans can defeat Trump’s macho persona by discussing his weaknesses.
The discourse about the 2024 election is heavily focused on candidates. But it turns out that young voters care much more (and engage much more) with the issues.
Researchers at Stanford and Princeton are taking on a big question: can social media posts actually change public opinion?
Adam Frisch is not messing around
In 2022, Democrat Adam Frisch shocked most political observers when he narrowly lost by just over 500 votes in his bid to unseat Rep. Lauren Boebert in Colorado’s Republican-leaning 3rd Congressional district. In February, Frisch announced he would seek a rematch, and has spent the majority of 2023 building a massive online grassroots army of donors to take on Boebert next year.
This time around, things are looking even more positive for Frisch. Rep. Boebert has faced a difficult year in the House as MAGA Republicans continue to turn against each other; in June, for example, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA) went so far as to call Boebert “a little b****” during a vote. Boebert also had to deal with a scandal back home, having to answer for bad behavior while having a wild night out in Denver.