Former President Donald Trump is ahead in Iowa with the Republican caucuses now nine weeks away, but that isn’t stopping the main pro-Trump super PAC from significantly increasing its ad spending in the first-in-the-nation GOP presidential contest.
MAGA Inc., the group backing Trump, has spent $4 million over Iowa’s airwaves from Oct. 1 to Nov. 14 — up from its spending earlier in the fall, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.
One of MAGA Inc.’s recent ads hits Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for once supporting statehood for Puerto Rico, which the DeSantis campaign has denied.
“Liberals have a plan to make Puerto Rico a state, adding two Democrats to the Senate. And Ron DeSantis sided with the liberals’ power play,” the ad goes.
Never Back Down, the super PAC supporting DeSantis, has spent an equal $4 million during the same period — after outspending the pro-Trump group from Sept. 1 to Oct. 1.
Some Never Back Down’s most recent ads have highlighted DeSantis’s previous military service, his effort in Florida to evacuate Americans from Israel, and his call for a new approach in dealing with China.
And narrowly behind those advertisers is SFA Fund, the super PAC backing former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, which has spent $3.7 million in Iowa from Oct. 1 to Nov. 14.
SFA Fund has a new ad in Iowa referring to Haley as “the conservative China fears most.”
During the entire 2024 presidential cycle so far, the pro-DeSantis Never Back Down has been the biggest advertiser, spending nearly $40 million on ads, according to AdImpact.
