Overview
- The Senate Leadership Fund paused further ad buys in the North Carolina Senate race and reserved roughly $9.8 million in Kansas after reports on Friday, October 2 showed North Carolina was slipping for the GOP and the Marshall–Hamilton contest had tightened.
- SLF has already spent more than $30 million in North Carolina this cycle and canceled the remaining ad reservations it held for the state, according to multiple ad-tracking and news reports.
- Polls cited by outlets show Adam Hamilton closing the gap with Republican Sen. Roger Marshall in Kansas, including surveys that put the race within the margin of error and helped prompt the seven-figure buy.
- Party leaders are treating the reallocation as late-stage triage to protect a 53-47 Senate majority, with SLF also boosting spending in other defensive contests such as Ohio, Iowa and Alaska.
- Ad cancellations and new reservations are likely to shape perceptions, fundraising and turnout in the final weeks before Election Day and are especially consequential because Kansas has not elected a Democratic U.S. senator since 1932.