Coloradans are on track to view more than $19 million worth of TV advertising — at the least — during the run-up to the Nov. 6 general election.
And nearly half is flowing to the 6th Congressional District, where Republican incumbent Mike Coffman is trying to fend off Democratic challenger Jason Crow in a district that backed Hillary Clinton in 2016.
The total spent on actual and reserved airtime in the race since June 27: about $9.2 million.
That amount is set to outpace 2016, when a total of $9.7 million in ads aired in Coffman’s victory over Democrat Morgan Carroll, a former state senator who now chairs the state Democratic Party.
And with two months of ad buying to go, it could outdo the $12.4 million spent in 2014, when Coffman defeated former Democratic House Speaker Andrew Romanoff.
Thus far this year, the two candidates account for only $1.3 million of the ad spending. The rest is coming from outside groups on the left and right.
Groups supporting Coffman are already targeting Crow on the airwaves in the suburban Denver district centered in Aurora.
This week, two groups supporting Crow – End Citizens United and the League of Conservation Voters – will take to the air.
This story first ran in The Colorado Sun’s politics newsletter, The Unaffiliated. You can subscribe here: cosun.co/theunaffiliated