The November election is seven months away, but the campaign ad wars are already heating up. At least three national political committees are now touting plans to run political ads in Minnesota this fall.
House Majority PAC, which backs Democrats, says it reserved $6.6 million in ad time in the Minneapolis media market, which covers two suburban swing districts that flipped to the Democrats in 2018. The scheduled ad blitz, planned for the final weeks of the campaign, also includes $620,000 in ads in Mankato and Rochester. Both cities are part of a southern Minnesota district narrowly won by GOP Rep. Jim Hagedorn in 2018 and expected to be one of the nation's most competitive House races.
The GOP-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund, meanwhile, says it plans to spend at least $3.25 million here this fall. Some of those ads will target Democrat Rep. Collin Peterson, who is running for re-election in a northern Minnesota district that President Donald Trump won by 30 points in 2016.
Ads won't just air during TV commercial breaks. The Democratic National Committee says Minnesotans will see some of the $22 million in YouTube ads the group plans to run.
Actual spending in Minnesota will probably change as the contours of each race become clear. But the early reservations are another sign of the state's battleground status this fall.
