Midterm Ad Spending Blows Past $1.5 Billion. These Are The Senate Races Driving the Surge.

Political advertising in the 2026 midterm elections has crossed the $1.5 billion mark, with spending accelerating sharply as candidates, parties and outside groups pour money into the most competitive congressional races.

Total advertising spending in U.S. Senate and House contests has climbed by $317 million in just one week, according to a Washington Post analysis of data from advertising intelligence firm AdImpact.

The surge offers another measure of the enormous financial stakes surrounding control of Congress as campaigns enter the final stretch. Among the highlights: Ohio's closely watched U.S. Senate race between Republican Sen. Jon Husted and Democratic former Sen. Sherrod Brown has generated approximately $240 million in advertising, up from $197 million a week earlier. That represents an increase of roughly 22% in seven days and keeps Ohio comfortably ahead of every other congressional race in the country.

The spending there has accelerated dramatically. Just a week ago, Brown was the largest individual advertiser in the Ohio Senate contest, with $37.5 million spent, while Republican-aligned outside groups were also investing heavily in the state. Republican groups poured about $14 million into Ohio advertising during a recent one-week period to support Husted.

Texas' Senate race now ranks second nationally for ad spending, with expenditures jumping 32% over the past week. Democrat James Talarico is facing Republican Ken Paxton in a contest attracting increasingly large investments from national conservative organizations and super PACs.

A Republican-aligned Texas PAC has now surpassed Talarico as the race's biggest advertiser, spending $2.9 million over the past week and $7.3 million overall, according to the Post's analysis. Earlier in September, Republican groups began significantly increasing their financial support for Paxton, while Trump-aligned and Elon Musk-linked organizations also moved money into the Texas contest.

At the national level, the Senate Leadership Fund has become the largest advertiser of the congressional campaign. The Republican-aligned super PAC has spent approximately $145 million across competitive Senate races, including $31 million during the past week alone.

That marks a rapid increase from the $114 million the group had spent as of last week. Its money has been concentrated in races including Ohio, North Carolina, Michigan, Maine and Iowa as Republicans seek to defend their Senate majority.

The $1.5 billion already spent on congressional advertising represents only part of what is expected to become an extraordinarily expensive election cycle. AdImpact projected earlier this year that total political advertising during the 2026 cycle could reach a record $11.6 billion. That would exceed the $8.9 billion spent during the 2022 midterms and even surpass the $11.2 billion spent during the presidential election cycle in 2024.

Outside organizations are playing an especially prominent role in the spending surge. President Donald Trump's political operation, Senate and House campaign committees and independent groups have committed tens of millions of dollars to competitive races. Elon Musk's America PAC has also entered the midterm fight after spending heavily during the 2024 presidential election.

The advertising imbalance is particularly notable. Republican groups were positioned to outspend Democratic groups by nearly $140 million across nine closely watched Senate races during the final weeks of the campaign.