A total of $10.5 billion was spent on campaign ads in the 2024 election cycle, in races from president to county commissioner, according to data compiled by ad tracking firm AdImpact and analyzed by NPR.

That total is up $1 billion from four years ago.

Democrats have outpaced Republicans by $5 billion to $4.1 billion since the start of the cycle, starting in January 2023. (The rest are independent, third-party and nonpartisan groups.)

Twenty-three states spent more than $100 million this cycle. But there is one state above them all: Pennsylvania. A staggering $1.2 billion was spent on advertising in the state; For the first time in US history, more than $1 billion in advertising was seen in a single state.

Pennsylvania has been a political hotbed this cycle. In addition to the presidential campaign, which has seen $576 million in advertising wasted, the state also has competitive Senate and House races. The Senate race saw $344 million, which isn’t even the most money spent on a Senate race. That honor belongs to Ohio, which aired nearly $518 million in advertising.

Approximately 3 billion dollars were spent for the presidential elections across the country, including the primaries. That’s slightly lower than 2020, but that was skewed by former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg spending $586 million on ads for his unsuccessful Democratic primary campaign. That was nearly equivalent to the $651 million that President Biden’s campaign spent against former President Donald Trump in the primaries and general election.

About $2.6 billion of this year’s total went to the general election campaign, which unofficially began after Super Tuesday in March.

Since March 6, Democrats, including the Biden and Harris campaigns and the outside groups that support them, have spent between $1.6 billion and $956 million, outpacing Republicans.

The presidential campaign is concentrated in seven states. Almost $4 of every $5 spent on the presidential election went to Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada.

Democrats outpaced Republicans in each of seven states. The largest amount ($578 million) went to none other than Pennsylvania. Both parties spent more than a quarter of their advertising dollars in the Keystone state.

The amount of money spent in the presidential election is remarkable compared to 2020, considering how small the field of competitive states is and Florida being off the ad spending chart.

$371 million was spent in the 2020 general election in Florida, which is an expensive place to buy advertising due to its multiple media markets. Only $4 million was spent there this year.

The place where the most money was spent in 2020 was Georgia. The presidential election was hotly contested and a runoff was held in the Senate. But in 2020, when all races in Georgia were combined, $787 million was spent; That’s nearly half a billion dollars less than the spending seen in Pennsylvania this year. Georgia saw the third-most spending this year, especially in the presidential election, at $304 million, behind Pennsylvania and Michigan ($376 million).

The biggest spenders in this election include presidential campaigns, committees trying to elect candidates for the Senate and House of Representatives, as well as various outside groups.

Here are the 10 people who spend the most:

1. President Harris (D) $513 million

2nd FF PAC (D) $441 million

3. MAGA Inc. (R) $360 million

4. WinSenate (D) $353 million

5. President Trump (R) $327 million

6. Senate Leadership Fund (R) $224 million

7. Household Majority PAC (D) $207 million

8th Congressional Leadership Fund (R) $201 million

9. Biden (D) for President $111 million

10. Harris Victory Fund (D) $111 million

The most money-making ads behind are from external groups:

$36 million: FF PAC

More money spent this adHe has been working more than others since October 22nd. From the pro-Harris outside group FF PAC. It features a man who calls himself a “lifelong Republican” and voted for Trump twice, but now votes for Harris.

$26.7 million: MAGA Inc.

this ad It focuses on Harris’ past as a prosecutor and attempts to portray her as a liberal from San Francisco. It has been in heavy circulation since October 9 in five of the seven swing states: North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

These are the two best ads in the campaigns:

Harris campaign: economy contrast

This contrast advertising It focuses on what Harris wants to do for the economy compared to Trump. The Harris campaign spent $19 million on this ad and aired it widely.

Trump campaign: lower taxes

The Trump campaign left the heavy lifting in the ad race to MAGA Inc., the primary outside group backing his candidacy. The campaign’s highest expenditure on a single ad was as follows: this is digital advertising Information and tips on ending taxes on Social Security benefits.

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