Advertising dollars.

The lifeblood of any political campaign.

The more dollars you have … the more you spend on TV and digital ads. Simple as that.

AdImpact projects the 2023-24 election cycle will total $10.2 billion in political ad spending.

That’s billion with a “B,” making it the most expensive political cycle of all time.

So where are the dollars being targeted in the Keystone State?

Through November 30, $8.1 million has been spent on the presidential campaign – mostly in support of President Joe Biden. The Future Forward USA PAC has put $4.1 million into primarily digital ads, while the Biden-Harris campaign and DNC have placed $2.5M and $1M, respectively.

Pennsylvania is fourth nationally in presidential spending, not surprisingly behind early-voting states such as Iowa ($92.2M) and New Hampshire ($51M). The Philadelphia market has seen the lion share of the spending ($5.3M), while Pittsburgh is a distant second ($2.0M). Underlining the importance of northeast PA, the Wilkes-Barre-Scranton market is third at $381K, followed by Erie ($46K) and Harrisburg-Lancaster-York ($21K).

In the Senate race, AdImpact has seen $145,000 spent to date with the Bob Casey campaign leading the way at $42K. The Coalition for American Jobs, a 501(c)6 created for the improvement of business conditions, made a $36K radio buy, while the PA Dems have dropped $22K on the race to date. Keystone Renewal PAC, a federal Super PAC, has allocated $19,800 to the Dave McCormick campaign.

In Pennsylvania’s 17 congressional races, it is clear in the early stages that the big money is headed to PA-07 and PA-08.

Over $331,000 has already been dropped in Rep. Matt Cartwright’s (D-08) northeastern PA district. The American Action Network 501(c)4 is responsible for over 80 percent of that total is it looks to oust the two-term incumbent. Cartwright’s campaign has spent $58,000. Not far behind is the $197,000 spent in Rep. Susan Wild’s (D-07) Lehigh Valley district.

After those two districts, it is clear that it is still early, as PA-12 ($31K) and PA-17 ($30K) are a distant three and four, respectively, while all others are under $20,000. It is expected that PA-01 and PA-10 will soon challenge the top two in spending as opponents of Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-01) and Rep. Scott Perry (R-10) look to flip the seats.

AdImpact projects that Pennsylvania and Arizona will see the highest level of spending among the so-called “swing states” that include Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Nevada.

Ohio and Florida are no longer considered “swing states.” In the same timeframe, the Buckeye State saw $1.4 million in spending in 2020 and just $34,000 in 2023. The Sunshine State is in the same boat, seeing $8.9 million in spending in 2020 but just $846,000 in 2023.

• Arizona, $821M
• Pennsylvania, $725M
• Michigan, $659M
• Nevada, $576M
• North Carolina, $435M
• Georgia, $383M
• Wisconsin, $362M