Where Hillary Clinton's Super PAC Is Spending Its Money
Priorities USA Action has announced a $96 million television ad buy.
— -- Hillary Clinton’s super PAC has largely stayed out of the television ad battle during the primary process. But that's changing as its focus turns to the general election.
Priorities USA Action has announced a $96 million television ad buy in battleground states from now until November, with a particular focus on the key states of Florida and Ohio, according to an ABC News analysis of data from CMAG/Kantar Media.
The ad buy comes as the outside group, which can raise unlimited dollars but must reveal its donors on federal documents, turns toward the general election fight against Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, saying they are “ready for a close and competitive election.” The group’s first two ads, targeted at Trump’s controversial past comments about women, were released last night.
Nearly half of its $96 million television buy is going into the crucial battleground states of Florida and Ohio: The group is dropping $26.2 million in Florida and $19.5 million in Ohio. Trump will face an uphill climb to defeating Clinton in the electoral college this November if he loses these states.
The other half of the money is split among other battleground states: Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, Virginia and New Hampshire, ranging from $12.7 million in Colorado to $7.9 million in New Hampshire.
The pro-Clinton group, which currently has $45 million in the bank, isn’t spending any money on other states that usually vote Democratic but that Trump claims he could flip -- such as New York or Pennsylvania.
The television spending is part of a larger $136 million ad buy, with $35 million on digital ads and $5 million on radio ads in addition to the $96 million on television ads.
During the primary process, the Clinton campaign itself has spent more than $5 million on anti-Trump ads on broadcast television, according to the ABC News analysis of CMAG/Kantar Media data.
More than half of that anti-Trump broadcast ad spending from the Clinton campaign during the primary process –- almost $3 million -- came in the first two states of Iowa and New Hampshire. The campaign spent an additional $1.3 million in Trump’s home state of New York, with another million split among other key states such as Nevada, Wisconsin, Florida and Pennsylvania.