What each side is emphasizing says a lot about the voters they are addressing in these final days.

To be clear, the candidates discuss a wide range of issues. They often speak for more than an hour at rallies and cover many topics in interviews. But to understand where campaigns think the race is and the messages they want to convey, it’s worth looking at where they’re investing heavily.

For Republicans, the ads’ bottom line focuses on stoking fears about the transgender community and the policies they associate with Vice President Kamala Harris. Democrats, in turn, are focusing on fears surrounding one man: former President Donald Trump, whom they describe as a potential threat to democracy.

In October, the Trump campaign’s biggest spend went on an ad titled “Crazy,” which features a clip of Harris saying she supports taxpayer-funded gender reassignment surgeries for prisoners. He concludes: “It sounds crazy because it is crazy,” and ends with: “Kamala’s agenda is them, not you.”

According to ad tracking firm AdImpact, the Trump campaign spent $16 million on this ad in October alone, primarily in swing state markets. For comparison, during this period, they allocated $10 million to an ad suggesting Harris would continue Joe Biden’s foreign policy agenda, using a scene from his interview on “The View” in which he stated that he had no major political differences with Biden.

Meanwhile, Harris closes out the campaign by spending big on an ad titled “unstable threat,”with quotes from former Trump administration officials who now question his character.

“The people who knew him best say he’s too unstable to lead,” the narrator states. The Harris campaign quickly spent $9 million on this ad in the first week and plans to increase spending in the final days.

Both campaigns have made sure their ads are seen during televised sports, especially football. Trump’s “Insane” ad has been in heavy rotation at college and professional football games. Meanwhile, Harris has created unique, customized ads focused on specific markets, such as an ad featuring Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers that airs in Wisconsin.

While polls show Trump has a big lead among male voters in this election, he is seeking to push them to vote. Harris, meanwhile, appears to want to win back as many male voters as she can, given her large lead among women.

Overall, Harris has spent almost double in television advertising against Trump since entering the contest in July. Specifically, from July 22 to October 9, Harris spent $456.3 million compared to Trump’s $204.3 million.

Without a doubt, both campaigns are also heavily advertised on social media and YouTube. Harris, who raised $1 billion for her campaign in her first 100 days, is also getting creative, such as advertising in the new The Las Vegas sphere to attract the attention of the voters of the swing state of Nevada there.

These elections reflect the state of the race. Campaigns wouldn’t spend millions on messages that didn’t do well in surveys or focus groups, especially with the audiences they’re trying to reach.

Of course, in the era of super PACs, most of the ad spending in this contest doesn’t come directly from the campaigns. These groups cannot coordinate with the campaigns, so they are just guessing at the campaign’s strategies. Unlike the campaign closing ads, the super PAC ads have focused more on the economy, arguing that Harris will raise taxes or that Trump will cut them for billionaires like him.

But in recent days, neither candidate is particularly popular and the race has been statistically tied for more than a month. Trump’s team may be betting that focusing on transgender rights will mobilize rare Trump supporters to vote. For Harris, emphasizing Trump’s character could appeal to Republicans who don’t like Trump personally and who may have supported former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who expressed similar concerns during the primary.

You can contact James Pindell at [email protected]. follow him @jamespindell and on instagram @jameswpindell.