Trump Says He Is Spending $400 Million to Boost Republicans in the Midterms
President Donald Trump said his political operation has spent or will spend more than $400 million by Election Day on ads, rallies and voter outreach to help Republicans keep control of Congress, two weeks before the Nov. 3 midterms.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said his political operation has spent or will spend more than $400 million by Election Day to support Republican candidates in the midterm elections, announcing the figure in an Oct. 20 post on Truth Social two weeks before voters decide control of Congress.
“I have spent, or will be spending, over 400 Million Dollars by Election Day,” Trump wrote. He said more than $300 million has already gone toward “Advertising, Direct and Indirect Voter Contact, Rallies, Rally Arenas, Telerallies, Get Out the Vote Programs, Election Integrity, and more.”
“It is my Great Honor to do so on behalf of the Republican Party, which has done so much to bring our Country back from the Edge of Oblivion,” the president said in the post.
Trump did not say whether the money comes from his own funds or from his political committees and allies. According to USA Today, the president appeared to be referring to money from MAGA Inc., a super PAC operated by donors aligned with him; the disclosure came ahead of an Oct. 20 Federal Election Commission deadline for the committee to report its fundraising and spending totals through the end of September. Through the end of August, MAGA Inc. reported having $424 million in the bank, USA Today reported. The figures Trump cited have not been independently verified.
The announcement lands with Republicans under pressure: Democrats are strong favorites to win control of the House and are increasingly bullish about their chances of flipping the Senate, with Trump’s approval rating at record lows in some polls. His approval has fallen to 31 percent in Reuters/Ipsos polling, the lowest the survey has recorded across either of his terms. Even so, the financial activity of Trump-aligned MAGA Inc. and other outside super PACs has given Republican Senate candidates a significant financial advantage in the midterms, even though the individual campaigns of Democratic Senate candidates have raised more money from donors than their Republican rivals, USA Today reported.
An ad war already running into the billions
The $400 million pledge is part of a much larger spending wave. Republicans have spent or reserved approximately $2.2 billion in advertising across federal, state and local races since Sept. 1, compared with $1.8 billion by Democrats, according to the Associated Press, as reported by TheWrap. Outside groups have also become major players, spending more than $1.2 billion in competitive congressional races, according to a Washington Post analysis of AdImpact data; in more than 70 percent of those contests, outside groups accounted for the majority of ad spending.
The money race has a few oversized individual players. Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a Trump supporter, contributed $158 million to a PAC supporting Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in his Republican campaign for the U.S. Senate in Texas, and has pumped more than $276 million into his super PAC and other groups backing Republicans in the midterms, according to The New York Times, as reported by USA Today. On the Democratic side, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Oct. 20 that he is spending about $80 million in September and October, making him one of the largest left-leaning donors of the midterm cycle.
Reporting based on coverage by USA Today and TheWrap.
