Iowa Politics with Jeff Stein -- Mon. Oct. 19, 2026

Another record total.

I'm Jeff Stein with Today's Iowa Politics Report.

You have seen and heard ads for U.S.

Senate races for quite a while now.

Now, races for the U.S.

House are heating up in terms of amount of money spent, and the folks wanting to see Greg Abbott, re-elected governor of Texas, even spent money on an ad to run nationally during this past Saturday's broadcast of the University of Texas football game.

Avid no doubt hopes his outcome is better than the fate of the Longhorns that day.

Add Impact.

Survey such things.

Its new The Fight for Congress report shows that more than $3.8 billion in political advertising has aired targeting House and Senate races during this election cycle.

That's $872.2 million more than at the comparable point two years ago.

And about that amount, another $837.7 million in advertising

is already reserved through Election Day November 3rd.

Ad Impact reports that 386 House general elections have attracted advertising spending during the current cycle.

That's out of 435 seats, with approximately $1.2 billion in aired advertising and future reservations across all media channels.

Now, not surprisingly, the spending is heavily concentrated in competitive

districts, just 21 house races rated toss-ups by the Cook Political Report account for 567.8 million in advertising.

That's 21 races, making up 47.5% of the general election total in the house.

By the way, that works out to an average of 27 million per competitive district.

And the spending is far from finished.

Of the 567.8 million committed to those 21 toss-up house contests, 362.5 million has already aired.

We have another 205.3 million remaining in future reservations.

and impacts as Senate contests remain the largest component of congressional advertising, accounting for approximately 61% of the $3.8 billion aired during the cycle.

Across the eight Senate races rated competitive by the Cook Political Report, advertisers have committed more than $1.5 billion in spending and reservations, and that includes $181.1 million in Iowa alone.

Now, that Iowa figure is particularly striking.

Add Impact says spending on Iowa's Senate general election is 1,529 percent higher than in the previous Iowa Senate contest in 2022, just four years ago.

Now granted, this time it is an open seat, but still.

Overall, ad impact reported last Wednesday that we have surpassed $10 billion in combined aired ad spending and future reservations this election season.

$10 billion.

That's already more than the final totals for each of the last two midterm cycles.

Each of those was a paltry $9 billion or so.

And there's at least another billion and a half left to be spent.

That will make this the most expensive election cycle of all time.

No doubt your ears and eyes will confirm that.

And that's the Iowa Politics Report for Monday, October 19 on Twitter, Instagram, Gitter, Threads and Truth Social at Iowa Politics.

I'm Jeff Stein on News Talk 1540, KXEL.