Who paid to reach American voters before the 2026 midterms

Spend placed in a state by the race or measure its ads are about. Hover a state for its figures; click it for its races, candidates and every advertiser.

The map places $285M of the money (59%) on the state whose race or measure the ads are about. $198M (41%) was about no single state: party fundraising, control of Congress, national issues.

Democrats won control of both chambers. Each chamber’s seats in the count, against the Meta spend each side placed on its races. Then every Senate and governor race on the ballot.

The bigger spender on Meta won 44 of 55 called races. That counts the Senate and governor races already called where the two sides together spent at least $100K on Meta: 23 of 27 for the Senate, 21 of 28 for governor. 12 called races spent less and are left out. Outspent and still won: Ashley Moody won the Senate seat in Florida, outspent $1.9M to $681K, Katie Hobbs won the governorship in Arizona, outspent $3.1M to $1.2M, David Crowley won the governorship in Wisconsin, outspent $2.7M to $1.1M, and Maura Healey won the governorship in Massachusetts, outspent $737.8K to $343.6K. 4 Senate and governor races are not yet called.

Senate races

Governor races

Spend is what the actor model placed on each race (Senate, House or governor, by state), from candidates’ own committees and outside groups, at the midpoints of Meta’s ranges; Meta ads only, not television, mail, streaming or other platforms. The bigger spender is the side, Democratic or Republican, that spent more; spend that took no side is left out. A race counts only once called, won by one of the two parties, and with at least $100K spent on it by the two sides. Results are the unofficial count as of 6 November 2026.

Meta returned 1,167,599 ads delivered in the United States under its political and issue label since 4 May 2026. A classifier set aside 408,006 as commercial or unrelated and 18,977 as foreign politics. The 740,568 that remain were paid for in dollars by 22,991 declared funders on 24,034 pages.

A model read each ad for the side it works for (it supports a Democrat or attacks a Republican, or the reverse) and the contest it is about. Federal races, for Congress, took the most money, and the Democratic side most of that. In state races, for governor and the legislatures, the two sides were close. Ballot measures were argued mostly without a side.

The largest outside group on each side, with what the FEC register says it is: WinSenate, on the Democratic side, spent $8M on Meta across one page and is on the FEC record as a super PAC (independent expenditures only), with $278M of independent expenditures for Democrats through 1 November 2026. Common Sense Voters Coalition, paid for by MAGA INC, on the Republican side, spent $13.7M on Meta across 2 pages and is on the FEC record as a hybrid PAC with a non-contribution account (non-qualified), with $42.9M of independent expenditures for Republicans through 1 November 2026.

Spend by side

Spend by race

The largest advertisers

All 24,034 pages, with search and filters: every advertiser (CSV). Both parties and every federal candidate with ads also have a page: parties and candidates.

Side and race are labels a model gave each ad, checked against a hand-labelled set (side 96.5%, race 97.8%). A page’s side and race are those most of its spend went to. A party’s own pages (the DNC’s, for instance) link to the party; a candidate’s, to the candidate.

Both sides built through September and peaked in October. In the week of 12 Oct, Republicans came closest: $16.1M against $17.1M for Democrats.

The week of 26 Oct looks small only because its ads were still running when we pulled them: their spend is as of 31 October 2026, and grows with every day they run. In that week Republicans launched $6.7M and Democrats $5.8M.

Meta reports an ad’s spend over its whole life, so a week holds the full cost of the ads that started in it. Both strips share one scale. Ads that started before 4 May 2026 and were still running are left out of the chart.

Google’s register of election ads holds 136.1K ads from 5,578 verified advertisers shown in the United States since 4 May 2026, worth $1.03B+ by Google’s ranges: 2.1 times what Meta’s archive holds for the same weeks. 81% of the ads were video, which on Google means YouTube. Google records no side, so each advertiser’s side comes from its FEC committee, the way Meta’s payer lines are matched, or failing that from a web search of its verified name, the same search that identifies Meta pages; 78% of the money is placed on a side, 21% takes none (ballot measures, companies, public bodies), and 1.8% could not be placed.

25% of the year’s Google spend went out in the fortnight before the vote, the weeks of 18 Oct and 25 Oct.

Meta and Google, by side

Democratic committees and the groups on their side bought the most on Google too: $449–543M, against $348–422M for the other side. $212M+ took no side, and $18.5–24.3M could not be placed.

Not a committee

Kalshi Inc, Blockratize Inc, and Money Metals Exchange LLC are among Google’s largest election advertisers with no FEC record: companies whose ads name candidates and races. Together they bought $97.9M+, 9.7% of the register.

The largest Google advertisers

Every advertiser on Google is identity-verified, so a name is the buyer, not a page. A side comes from the FEC committee the name matches, or, marked with an asterisk, from a web search of the verified name. A name that matches an FEC committee links to its Vipima page; the others open the advertiser in Google’s Ads Transparency Center. States are the ones the advertiser’s ads named, television markets and ZIP codes folded into their state.

Where the single-state money went

Ads whose targeting named one state only; an ad aimed at several states counts for none of them. Google’s own state table is cumulative since 2018, so the state map above stays Meta-only.

Google reports each ad’s spend and impressions as a range and publishes no ad text; a range with an open top ($3M and above) is shown as a floor with a plus. The figures are sums of range bounds and the ads are not classified by message. Sides rest on FEC records first and on a cached web search of the verified name second, with its evidence and sources kept for every advertiser. Source: Google’s political advertising transparency report, updated 5 November 2026.

1,181 federal candidates paid for ads through 2,047 FEC-registered committees, for $76.3M in all. The Senate races take the most: James Talarico (Senate, Texas, $9.6M), Abdul El-Sayed (Senate, Michigan, $7.5M), and Jonathan Ossoff (Senate, Georgia, $6.5M). The largest House spender is Tom Tiffany (House, Wisconsin 7, $1.7M).

The first Republican on the list of candidates is Tom Tiffany (House, Wisconsin 7, $1.7M), at rank 9. Republican candidates leave Meta to outside groups: the largest Republican-side funders are MAGA INC, SLF PAC, and America PAC.

The largest funders

Funders as the ads’ disclaimers name them, across all their pages. Each name links to the funder’s largest page.

A candidate’s figures are the ads the actor model tied to one of their FEC committees; a super PAC’s ads for them count for the PAC, not the candidate. State and local candidates have no national register: they appear as advertisers, not candidates.

Our detector looks for pages that run identical or near-identical ad text. It found 971 such groups of pages in the US data, and in none of them does a page hide its funder. There is no covert network of the kind we found in Israel.

What there is: a few disclosed networks of pages with friendly local names (moms’ groups, sports talk, local news) run by one funder each. Most urge people to vote or ask about prices; the local-news sites attack. They spent $209.7K between them, next to the $200M on the Democratic side. A story about form, not scale.

• Metric Media LLC · Local-news sites named for towns and states; most of their classified ads attack.

  Its pages: South New Castle News, North New Castle News, Sussex Review, Minnesota State Wire, The Sconi, Detroit City Wire and 36 more

• AMERICAN FAMILY VOICES INC · Lifestyle pages in Maine, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Wisconsin asking readers about prices.

  Its pages: Our Home Town, Our Part of Pennsylvania, Our Part of Iowa, American Family Voices, East of Susquehanna, Standing Up For The Working Class and 12 more

• Stronger Together Ohio · Ohio pages for parents, food and local life, with turnout messages.

  Its pages: Stronger Together Ohio, Ohio Moms for Moms, Buckeye State Life, Our Big River, Northcoast Lake Life, Back to Basics, Ohio and 8 more

• Story Network Foundation · Georgia, Texas and Michigan pages on sports, food and local life, all opened in the last fortnight before the vote.

  Its pages: H-Town Proud, Homegrown Georgia Peaches, Getting by in Georgia, Brisket and Burritos , Georgia On My Mind, Georgia Sports Talk and 12 more

Texts they shared across their pages

• Gas, groceries, healthcare - or another cost entirely? #Discussion #Corruption

  16 ads on 8 pages · AMERICAN FAMILY VOICES INC

• The signs are everywhere. Even in the cornfields. Vote by Nov. 3rd. #OHVotes #OHMatters #OHLife

  23 ads on 13 pages · Stronger Together Ohio

• Like a Michigan cherry orchard, progress takes seasons. Our votes are the seeds, and every counted ballot helps them grow. Share with someone who needs a reminder → #MIMatters #MILife #MIElections

  14 ads on 7 pages · Story Network Foundation

Every page here declares its funder in Meta’s disclaimer. The detector compares ad texts across pages; a link alone is not counted as shared text. Nothing here establishes inauthentic accounts or foreign involvement.

Weighted by spend, 50% of the Democratic side’s classified money went on attack ads, 45% of the Republican side’s and 28% of the money with no side.

Democratic-side ads named Donald Trump, Jon Husted, and Susan Collins most. Republican-side ads went after Democrats, Sherrod Brown, and David Crowley. Democrats led on electoral process & turnout, corruption & governance, and candidate profile; Republicans on economy & cost of living, candidate profile, and electoral process & turnout.

Tone by side

Most-attacked, by spend

Topics by side, share of classified spend

Topics and tone are classified by a model; an ad can carry several topics. Targets are as the ad names them, except Donald Trump, whose spellings are counted together; “Republicans” and “MAGA Republicans” count apart.

The war was argued through the pump, not as a war. Ads that name Iran took $3M, 0.6% of all spend, from 497 pages; 87% of that money was on the Democratic side and 88% of it was attack ads, most of them in a handful of Senate races. Ads about gas prices took $3.3M, and 39% of that money also names Iran or the war. The peace frame (“forever war”, “endless war”) is $850.8K in all; the betrayal frame, the war as a broken promise, $71.7K.

Republicans left the war alone. 0.1% of Republican-side spend ($84.7K) names Iran, and $8.9K of it names Trump and the war in one breath. The few that do distance the candidate from it:

• Mike Rogers will fight to end the war in Iran, bring down the cost of gas, and make housing affordable. Return your ballot or find your Early Vote location!

  Iran · 5 October 2026 · $6–7K · 1M+ impressions · The Sentinel Action Fund · Promotional · Ad Library

Epstein was the largest late attack line in the Senate races: $3.6M in all, $2.4M of it in Oct 2026, 90% of it Democratic-side attack ads, and 40% of it from one page, WinSenate. Its targets, with the result of their race: Jon Husted (lost), Roger Marshall (lost), Ken Paxton (lost), Ashley Hinson (lost), and Dan Sullivan (not called). Every called target lost, in the same races where every other attack line ran too, so the Epstein ads say nothing on their own about why.

Themes by spend

Ads whose text names the theme, at Meta’s range midpoints; an ad can count in several rows. Share is of every domestic dollar in the report.

The costliest ad on each

The highest-spend ad whose text names Iran, gas prices and Epstein, as it ran.

• The endless war in Iran is costing us all. Mike Rogers said it would be quick. Instead, we are paying the price.

  Iran · 4 September 2026 · $150–175K · 1M+ impressions · WinSenate · Attack · Ad Library

• Mike Collins is loyal to Trump above all else. He even supports Trump’s War in Iran, which has caused gas prices to soar and cost taxpayers billions. Call (202) 225-4101 and tell Mike Collins to stop supporting Trump’s war and put Georgia first.

  Gas prices · 12 August 2026 · $100–125K · 1M+ impressions · Georgia Votes · Attack · Ad Library

• Senator Jon Husted took over $100,000 from one of Epstein's closest friends and co-conspirators, Les Wexner. It's no surprise he voted to keep the Epstein files a secret. Husted can’t be trusted.

  Epstein · 7 October 2026 · $200–250K · 1M+ impressions · WinSenate · Attack · Ad Library

Israel and Gaza took $1.6M and AIPAC $2.2M, 34% of it in Jul 2026: a Democratic-primary fight of the summer, not a general-election theme.

Themes are keyword matches on the ad text (body and link title), Meta ads only: an ad that names a thing counts whatever it says about it, one that alludes without the word is missed, and an ad can count in several themes. A share of spend is a share of what advertisers paid for, not of what voters heard. Targets are as the message model names them; a result is the unofficial count’s, joined by name to the Senate races.

Ads in Spanish (alone or beside English) took $5.8M, 1.2% of all spend: $2M on the Democratic side, $819.9K on the Republican side and $3M with no side.

Language as the message model read it. Spanish ads appear as they ran on each page’s Vipima page, marked Spanish.

Public bodies spent $10.4M on ads Meta filed as political: secretaries of state and election offices with voting information, a state lottery, a tribal government, cities.