Republican campaign arm cancels more than $700,000 in ads for Ohio Senate race

The National Republican Senatorial Committee canceled its fall cable ad reservations totaling more than $700,000 in the Ohio Senate race.

According to AdImpact, NRSC canceled its full cable reservation in one of the most competitive races in the country in which ads were set to run between Aug. 31 and Election Day. The ads were to benefit GOP candidate Bernie Moreno and hurt incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH).

The campaign committee had already been relying on support from allied super PACs that will continue to pour money into the race. The Senate Leadership Fund, the committee’s largest allied super PAC and its affiliated subsidiaries have rolled out millions in ad buys in battleground states across the country.

“These dollars can be spent more efficiently via hybrid advertisements, which get the candidate rate. NRSC is relying on SLF and other outside groups to carry the super PAC message in Ohio and Montana,” said a source familiar with the NRSC strategy.

The Senate campaign arm emphasized Ohio is still a top pickup opportunity.

“Kamala Harris and Joe Biden’s historical unpopularity in Ohio means advertising dollars can be spent more efficiently as hybrid ads,” they wrote in a post on X. “Ohio remains a top pickup opportunity for Senate Republicans and NRSC will continue to invest accordingly.”

NRSC had already taken a similar approach in Montana, where outside PACs had already booked airtime. In Pennsylvania, the Keystone Renewal PAC had booked millions of ads for GOP candidate Dave McCormick and another super PAC is prepared to spend on behalf of Republican Larry Hogan in Maryland.

The Ohio race has become 2024’s first non-presidential race to exceed $300 million in spending, and it’s also one of the most expensive races that the political ad tracking firm has seen.

Before NRSC pulled their advertising spending, Ohio was the only state in which Republicans had been outspending Democrats on campaign ads, where they were slated to spend $158.4 million compared to $152 million from Democrats. However, now Democrats have spent more in future advertising slated in the state, with $86.2 million in future ads compared to Republicans’ $83.3 million.

Brown (D-OH) is polling better than his Republican challenger while former President Donald Trump has a much larger lead in the same state. In an average of polling, Brown is outpacing Moreno by five points.

The majority of the ad cash is coming in from outside groups such as the Democratic Duty and Honor group, which invested $28.7 million and represents 51% of Democratic spending, while the Republican group One Nation spent $27.6 million, which represents 82% of Republican spending. Meanwhile, the Brown campaign has spent $27.6 million, compared to Moreno’s $875,000.