MIDDLETOWN – Advertising spending in North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race fell between two October reporting periods, according to a new Wesleyan Media Project analysis of AdImpact data.
The Oct. 29 report puts spending at $11.43 million from Oct. 12-25, down from $16.54 million from Sept. 28-Oct. 11. The pro-Democratic share rose to 84.2% from 63.7%.
The totals cover multiple channels, including broadcast television, local cable, streaming, digital platforms and radio. They are advertising estimates for the specified periods, not campaign cash balances or a measure of votes.
For the later period, the report lists $8.34 million in Democratic candidate spending, $100,000 in Republican candidate spending and $2.58 million from outside groups. Its methodology notes that coordinated party advertising can make a race’s total exceed the listed candidate and group amounts.
The open seat is being vacated by Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who is not seeking reelection. Democrat Roy Cooper, Republican Michael Whatley, Green Party candidate Michael Dublin and Libertarian Shannon Bray are competing to succeed him, WRAL reported.
The contest has implications beyond the state. Republicans hold 53 of the Senate’s 100 seats, and Democrats need to flip four nationally to win a majority, according to WRAL’s account of the closing campaign.
WRAL reported that Cooper and Whatley made appeals to eastern North Carolina voters Friday as the early-voting period approached its end. Those campaign appearances are separate from the earlier advertising window measured in the Wesleyan report.
North Carolina’s in-person early voting ended at 3 p.m. Oct. 31. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3, with polls open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., according to the State Board of Elections.
Voters casting ballots Tuesday must use their assigned polling place. The state’s Voter Search tool provides polling-place information and sample ballots. The advertising figures do not establish an election outcome.
Sources
- Wesleyan Media Project: Oct. 29 advertising analysis
- WRAL: Closing appeals in North Carolina’s Senate race
- NCSBE: 2026 election dates and voting information
Photo Credit: File photograph of a television remote control, April 21, 2019, by Dmitry Makeev, via Wikimedia Commons; CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped and resized; adapted card shared under the same license. Representative media-use imagery, not a North Carolina location, campaign advertisement or photograph of a candidate.
Editor’s Note: This article was drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence and was reviewed and fact-checked by a member of the NC Political News editorial team before publication.