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 million spent on TV ads to support Republican candidate for Pennsylvania attorney general • Spotlight PA
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$13 million spent on TV ads to support Republican candidate for Pennsylvania attorney general • Spotlight PA

HARRISBURG – The Republican candidate for attorney general and the well-funded political action committees behind him have spent more than $13 million to flood Pennsylvania airwaves with television ads until Election Day.

Meanwhile, his Democratic opponent has spent only $3.1 million for the same purpose.

The race for attorney general is relatively low profile but highly consequential. The attorney general defends Pennsylvania’s laws and election results, engages in multistate legal battles, and prosecutes everything from political corruption to gun and drug trafficking. The powerful and highly visible position has launched previous officials, such as the now governor. Josh Shapiro: to a higher position.

“This level of disparity in spending can be really difficult to overcome, especially in a race that doesn’t get the same kind of media coverage as, say, the presidential race,” said Anne Wakabayashi, a Democratic political consultant who is not involved in the race for attorney general.

The Democratic candidate, Eugene DePasquale, was Pennsylvania’s auditor general for eight years, giving him a statewide profile. Sunday is the York County district attorney.

Wakabayashi says he sees the spending on television ads to support Sunday as an effort to raise his profile, calling it “relatively unknown.” DePasquale, he said, “has been in office a long time, from the state House to state office. “He has run real campaigns.”

The total spending of $16.7 million includes television advertising reserved to air between June 11 and November 5 and reported to the FCC. Total advertising spending, including digital promotions, is even higher.

Sunday has received significant support from a PAC funded largely by Pennsylvania’s richest person, Republican mega-donor Jeff Yass, and from a PAC associated with the Republican Attorneys General Association. Both spent millions of dollars on ads to support Sunday and attack DePasquale.

Commonwealth Leaders Fund, the PAC supported by Yass, also donated $800,000 directly to Sunday’s campaign. Sunday’s campaign raised just over $1 million in direct contributions this reporting cycle, from Sept. 17 to Oct. 21, on top of $1.2 million in the previous cycle.

But that amount is small compared to additional in-kind contributions from the Commonwealth Leaders Fund which total just under $10 million. In-kind contributions These are expenses that are coordinated with the campaign.

Much of this in-kind spending contributed to $13.6 million in television ads pro-Sunday or against DePasquale. But $38,000 was also spent on production, $3.3 million on printing and mailing, and $700,000 on digital advertising.

Other notable donors to Sunday’s campaign include Comcast’s PAC; Republican state Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman of Indiana County; the Northeast Leadership Fund, which is chaired by a Luzerne County real estate developer; and a PAC for skill game operators.

DePasquale’s campaign is the only entity spending money on television ads to support his candidacy. A spokesperson said the campaign is also aware of additional independent digital advertising, although not how much is being spent or who is funding it.

In financial reports filed last week, DePasquale reported raising nearly $1.8 million in the most recent reporting cycle, on top of nearly $2.2 million in the previous cycle, plus about $100,000 in contributions in species. The large donations included $650,000 from the Democratic Attorneys General Association and $100,000 from Shapiro. DePasquale also received major contributions from unions, including the Pennsylvania chapter of SEIU and the state carpenters union.

Few surveys have covered the race for attorney general, but indicate a close race.

Sunday has He highlighted his career as a prosecutor and focused his campaign on public safetysaying their goal is to crack down on illegal gun ownership and the sale of fentanyl. He maintains that he has a holistic view of criminal justice that includes providing education to certain criminals and other public services instead of going to prison.

Advertisements funded on his behalf by the Keystone Prosperity PAC have focused more aggressively on undocumented immigrantsand they have searched to link Sunday to Donald Trumpsaying that both will put an end to “anarchy.”

DePasquale is committed to protecting the right to abortion and has argued in advertisements that Sunday is not. In recent weeks there has accused on Sunday of letting criminals escape too easily during his tenure as York District Attorney, an angle similar to that seen in Keystone Prosperity’s pro-Sunday ads.

He has also focused his campaign on prosecuting hate crimes and says he would bring personal family experience with addiction and the criminal justice system to the attorney general’s office, as well as previous experience managing a large state agency.

Spotlight PA’s Stephen Caruso and Kate Huangpu contributed reporting to this story.