Senate Leadership Fund shifts ad money to defend Roger Marshall in Kansas
The GOP-aligned super PAC paused future North Carolina ads while reserving at least $8.2 million for Kansas advertising.
By Frankie Delgado · News Reporter
3 min read
The Senate Leadership Fund is shifting attention to the Kansas Senate race, pausing planned future advertising in North Carolina while booking millions in Kansas advertising to support Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, according to Associated Press reporting. The Senate Leadership Fund Kansas ads move puts fresh outside money behind Marshall as he seeks a second term against Democratic nominee Adam Hamilton.
The group is a super PAC aligned with leading Senate Republicans, rather than an official Senate campaign committee. Four people with direct knowledge of the internal strategy told the AP about the decision on condition of anonymity.
How much is the Senate Leadership Fund spending in Kansas?
AdImpact data cited by the AP showed the group had reserved nearly $8.2 million in Kansas advertising over the following month. Reservations are planned ad bookings, not necessarily money that has already been spent.
That number moved during the day. An AdImpact Politics update on Oct. 2 put the Kansas reservation total at $8.2 million, while CBS News later reported $9.8 million reserved as of Friday. The reports offer differing estimates that may reflect different tracking snapshots.
Marshall’s campaign had separately reserved $2.3 million in advertising and had another $500,000 in support from other groups, the AP reported. Hamilton had reserved $590,000 and had a little more than $556,000 in outside support.
Marshall won his first Senate contest by more than 11 percentage points in 2020. But Tim Scott, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said this week that Kansas was “very competitive” and that a Marshall victory would be closer than he wanted, according to the AP.
Why is the group pulling back in North Carolina?
The Senate Leadership Fund had planned $18 million in North Carolina spending for the next month, according to AdImpact figures cited by the AP, but paused that future advertising. It had already spent about $32 million in the state.
The North Carolina contest pits Republican Michael Whatley against former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. The anonymous sources who described the shift said it reflected concern about Whatley’s prospects, the AP reported. President Donald Trump also told reporters he was worried about Whatley’s chances and hoped he would win.
The Kansas race has unusual history behind it. No Democrat has won a Senate election in the state since 1932, and no Democrat has finished within 10 percentage points since 1974, according to the AP. Two former Republican Kansas governors, Mike Hayden and Bill Graves, have endorsed Hamilton, the AP said.
The spending shift is part of an increasingly defensive Senate strategy for Republicans, the AP characterized, with November’s midterms set to determine control of Congress. Advertising plans can still change before Election Day, AdImpact said.
This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.