ICYMI: Army of millionaires flood Senate map in cash [POLITICO]

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

POLITICO: Army of millionaires flood Senate map in cash
By Natalie Allison
January 24, 2022

Key Points

• Months before the first Senate primary vote will be cast this year, there’s a spending spree unrivaled by any election cycle in history.

• In Ohio, where a handful of millionaires are chasing the GOP nomination, two Senate hopefuls have each already plowed $10 million into their campaigns — and the primary isn’t until May.

• In neighboring Pennsylvania, a political strategist involved in the open Senate race anticipates $110 to $130 million in spending on TV advertisements in the Republican primary alone — nearly as much as both parties combined spent on ads during the state’s entire 2016 Senate election.

• It’s also a reflection of… a glut of Republican self-funders who are digging deep into their own pockets to finance their campaigns.

• Over the last decade, just seven Senate candidates nationwide have put $10 million or more of their own funds into their races. This year, however, at least two Republicans in Ohio have already done so.

• Timken, a former Ohio Republican Party chair, kicked off her bid with an initial $2 million personal loan…Bernie Moreno, a car dealer turned blockchain businessman, has spent $2.5 million on television advertisements in just the past six weeks, more than any other Ohio candidate during that time.

• Then there is the case of former Ohio state treasurer Josh Mandel and “Hillbilly Elegy” author J.D. Vance, both of whom are boosted by super PACs. Mandel, who is backed by the Club for Growth, had close to $6 million cash on hand at the end of September. Vance is one of two 2022 Senate candidates whom billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel has pledged to help with $10 million super PAC donations — the other is Blake Masters, running in Arizona’s Republican Senate primary.

• Some see former President Donald Trump as one of the forces driving the surge in GOP spending. The pursuit of his endorsement — and the need to establish pro-Trump bona fides — has fueled an arms race among candidates in Republican primaries.

• In Pennsylvania, the top ad spenders are two Republicans who have only recently joined the race. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity doctor and television host who launched his campaign Nov. 30, has spent $5.4 million on advertisements in less than two months. David McCormick, a former hedge fund executive, has dropped $3.7 million on ads — much of which his campaign purchased before he formally entered the race last week.

• “There has been nothing in Pennsylvania in recent memory that would be on this scale,” said a strategist who is involved in the race.

• David McIntosh, Club for Growth Action president, said the group is committed to “spending at least $10 million on the primary” to defeat former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory.

###