The Republicans’ Senate campaign committee has slashed its television ad reservations in three critical battleground states for the fall, a likely sign of financial troubles headed into the peak of the 2022 midterm election season.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee has cut more than $5 million in Pennsylvania, including its reservations in the Philadelphia media market, according to two media-tracking sources.
Reservations in Wisconsin, in the Madison and Green Bay markets, have also been curtailed, by more than $2 million. And in Arizona, all reservations after Sept. 30 have been cut in Phoenix and Tucson, the state’s only two major media markets, amounting to roughly $2 million more.
So far around $10 million has been canceled but it was unclear if the reservation shifts were complete as of midday Monday.
The states where ad reservations have been canceled are the settings for three of the nation’s most competitive Senate contests.
In a statement, Chris Hartline, the communications director for the N.R.S.C. said, “Nothing has changed about our commitment to winning in all of our target states.”
Mr. Hartline added that the committee had “been spending earlier than ever before to help our candidates get their message out and define the Democrats for their radical agenda. We’ve been creative in how we’re spending our money and will continue to make sure that every dollar spent by the N.R.S.C. is done in the most efficient and effective way possible.”
The party committee, which entered July with $28.5 million in the bank, still has millions of dollars reserved in other battleground states.
A person familiar with the committee’s planning said some of the money saved by canceling reservations now would 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 prices. Some of the new reservations could come as early as Monday.
Republican online fund-raising has slowed in recent months, affecting both Republican candidates and party committees.
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