The National Republican Senatorial Committee has cut more than $5 million in Pennsylvania, including its holdings in the Philadelphia media market, according to two sources monitoring the media. Wisconsin bookings in the Madison and Green Bay markets have also been reduced, by more than $2 million. And in Arizona, all bookings after Sept. 30 have been cut in Phoenix and Tucson, the state’s only two major media markets, to the tune of about $2 million more. So far, about $10 million had been canceled as of midday Monday, though more changes to fall bookings were underway. The states where the ad reservations have been canceled are home to three of the most competitive Senate races in the country. In a statement, Chris Hartline, the director of communications for the NRSC, said: “Nothing has changed about our commitment to winning in all our target countries.” Mr. Hartline added that the committee was “spending earlier than ever to help our candidates get their message out and define Democrats for their radical agenda. We have been creative in how we spend our money and will continue to ensure that every dollar spent by the NRSC is done in the most efficient and effective manner.” After this article was published online, Mr Hartline called it “false” on Twitter and said “there is money moving from the IE side” – independent spending that cannot be coordinated with campaigns – “back to the NRSC of the wall.’ He declined to say how much the re-bookings were. In Wisconsin, some ads were on hold in Milwaukee, for example, though far fewer than those canceled in Madison and Green Bay as of Monday afternoon. In Pennsylvania, the Senate Republicans’ super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, recently announced it is adding $9.5 million to its fall reserve in the race between Republican Mehmet Oz and Democratic Lt. John Fetterman. The super PAC moved up the start of ad buying by three weeks to Aug. 19, a decision that may ease pressure on the party committee to maintain its hold. As online fundraising has slowed for Republicans in recent months, affecting both candidates and party committees, the party has become increasingly dependent on large super PACs in the Senate battle. Entering July, the Senate Republican super PAC had nearly $40 million more cash on hand than the Senate Democratic super PAC. The Senate caucus said it had already helped fund $17 million in “coordinated” and “hybrid” ads with Republican senators and Senate candidates in Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Florida and Wisconsin. according to the commission, and had spent $36 million on television in total. The NRSC entered July with $28.5 million in the bank and has millions of dollars committed in other battleground states. A person familiar with the committee’s planning said some of the money saved by canceling reservations now will eventually be used to rebook advertising time in coordination with the Senate campaigns, which would help stretch the group’s dollars further. , because candidates are entitled to lower ad rates. Some of the new bookings were already made on Monday.
