Non-stop ads, robocalls: Welcome to the costliest elections in America

Palmdale, November 4 

Wendy Burke has had enough. Campaign advertisements bombard her favourite TV shows. Dozens of election pamphlets fill her mailbox. Every day, she gets several political calls on her cell phone and more on her landline. Strangers knock at her door seeking her vote.

“It’s ridiculous,” Burke, 47, said outside a shopping centre in Palmdale, California. “I’ve had to block my calls.” Welcome to the most expensive race in the hard-fought battle between Republicans and Democrats for control of the US House of Representatives, which will be decided in Tuesday’s elections.

The blizzard of spending in California’s 25th district, a region stretching north and east of Los Angeles into the high desert of the Antelope Valley, stands out even during the most expensive congressional elections in US history.

Most of the money is funnelled into non-stop advertising -- on TV, radio, social media, yard signs, automated robocalls to cell phones and land lines, bumper stickers and a deluge of pamphlets stuffed into mailboxes.

“The mailers go in the trash,” she said. “I can’t wait until this whole thing is over.”

The contest, a top Democratic target, has drawn more than $26 million in spending by candidates and outside groups since January 2017, according an analysis of Federal Election Commission data. It leads the 10 priciest House races, where a total of $238 million has been spent. Democrats, aiming to pick up the 23 House seats and two in the Senate needed to control Congress and block much of Republican President Donald Trump’s agenda and increase oversight of his administration, have far outpaced their opponents in spending.

Democrats and their allies in the 10 costliest House races spent $142 million to Republicans’ $96 million, Reuters’ analysis found.

The fight for the Senate is even costlier. In Florida, Republican Rick Scott’s contest against incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson is the most expensive Senate race. The candidates and their allies have spent nearly $160 million. Nelson’s campaign spent about $25 million while outside groups splashed out $45 million supporting him or opposing Scott, who spent nearly $67 million. Outside groups spent $22 million supporting him and opposing Nelson.

Missouri’s Senate race between Democrat Claire McCaskill and Republican Hawley is second most expensive at roughly $108 million. Texas is third at about $100 million. All up, it is a record for a congressional midterm cycle. — Reuters

It’s advantage Republicans in Senate

• Republicans have a huge advantage as they seek to hold or expand their 51-49 Senate majority, with the battle for control running mostly through states that President Donald Trump won in 2016 presidential election
• Out of the 35 Senate contests, 10 involve Democratic incumbents seeking re-election in states that Trump won. He’s spending much of the final week before the election travelling to those states to nudge his supporters to the polls
• Democratic hopes of taking the Senate hinge on nearly all of their incumbents winning and on flipping seats in a few states 

2020 presidential roadmap to be out

• Democrats appear poised to win governor offices in the Midwestern and Rust Belt states that sealed Trump’s 2016 victory, a potential drag on his re-election chances in two years
• Democratic gubernatorial candidates are leading or highly competitive in opinion polls in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, states that typically vote Democratic in presidential elections but swung to Trump
• These contests may foreshadow whether Trump can count on holding onto states that helped him to achieve an electoral college win, even as he lost the popular vote