The super PAC aligned with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has reserved $125 million in television advertising for the fall campaign in what it billed as just the “first wave” of support for GOP efforts to win the majority.
Congressional Leadership Fund said Thursday it would invest in traditional television and streaming platforms in 48 media markets that cover 46 House districts. And most of the planned $125 million in spending — $111 million — is being allotted to flip districts controlled by the Democratic Party, while only $14 million is being used for defensive measures.
“We’re pressing deep into Democrat territory to elect the largest possible Majority this fall,” Dan Conston, the president of Congressional Leadership Fund, said in a statement.
REP. MADISON CAWTHORN HOLDS GOP PRIMARY EDGE DESPITE MANY UNFLATTERING HEADLINES
House Republicans need to net five seats in the 435-member chamber to win back the majority they lost in 2018.
This Congressional Leadership Fund announcement serves as a reminder of just how prolific a fundraiser McCarthy has been and how crucial his political skills may be to his party’s efforts to win back the House majority after four years in the minority.
It also happens to come as the House minority leader faces questions over his criticism, now more than a year old, of former President Donald Trump and some of his Republican colleagues that were revealed in the new book This Will Not Pass; Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future, written by New York Times reporters Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin.
This first round of ad buys by Congressional Leadership Fund is the largest ever by the House GOP super PAC and dwarfs the $43 million in initial purchases made by the group in 2020. The largest reservations in terms of dollars it plans to spend include:
- $15 million in Las Vegas
- $8.1 million in Phoenix
- $7.3 million in Philadelphia
- $4.4 million in New York
- Includes $1.9 million for New York’s 18th Congressional District and $2.5 million for New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District
- $6.3 million in Boston
- $6.2 million in Los Angeles
- Includes $1.7 million for California’s 45th Congressional District, $1.8 million for California’s 27th Congressional District, $1.8 million for California’s 47th Congressional District, and $600,000 for California’s 40th Congressional District
- $6.1 million in Raleigh-Durham
- $5 million in San Antonio
- Includes $2.2 million in Texas’s 15th Congressional District and $3.9 million for Texas’s 28th Congressional District
- $4.9 million in Minneapolis-St. Paul
- $4.4 million in Denver
- $4.2 million in Washington, D.C.
- $4 million in Detroit
