Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts could be outspent on television in the final days of his close re-election bid after allies of independent businessman Greg Orman bought nearly $800,000 of airtime on Thursday.
The Committee to Elect an Independent Senate, a pro-Orman super PAC funded by Democratic donors, purchased $788,305 in additional broadcast television time to run through Election Day, GOP sources confirmed. That means that Roberts and Republican groups supporting him are now on track to be outspent $3.07 million to $2.6 million — a margin of $450,000 — during the final five days of the midterm campaign.
Unless Roberts’ allies increase their advertising presence before the weekend buying deadline, the vulnerable Republican will end up being outspent by nearly $1 million during the final two weeks of the campaign. That could prove pivotal in a race where Orman had a lead of 0.9 percentage points in the RealClearPolitics average of recent public opinion polls. Earlier in the campaign, Roberts and his allies had outspent Orman and groups supporting him.
Groups on the air supporting Orman include the Committee to Elect an Independent Senate and MayDay PAC. Groups on television backing Roberts include the National Rifle Association; the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Ending Spending Action Fund; and Freedom Partners, a super PAC that is a part of the umbrella of groups overseen by Charles and David Koch, whose company, Koch Industries, is based in Wichita, Kan.
