Presidential candidates and their SuperPACs spent more than $10.6 million on TV ads during the run-up to the Michigan primary, equivalent to more than $4 per vote received.
But some White House contenders may regret their decision to skimp on their investments in TV time.
Craig Mauger, the new executive director of the watchdog group Michigan Campaign Finance Network, reports that the total ad buys easily surpassed the amount spent on TV for the 2012 state primary, when President Obama was unopposed on the Democratic side.
According to MCFN, the candidate who spent the most on TV ads was Democrat Bernie Sanders, who went on to pull a narrow upset win over frontrunner Hillary Clinton. The Vermont senator’s campaign invested about $4.2 million in broadcast TV ads, based on tracking data from Kantar Media.
That’s more than 8,400 ad spots aimed at Michigan voters while Clinton ran about 7,000 ad spots, an overall purchase of $3.4 million.
A key finding by MCFN is that the biggest spender in the GOP primary was none of the presidential campaigns. Conservative Solutions, a SuperPAC supporting Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, spent the most, $1.5 million, even as Rubio finished a dismal fourth place (last place) in the state’s March 8 primary.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who posted a disappointing third-place finish in the Great Lakes State, spent $272,000 on TV advertisements while the Super PAC that supports him, New Day for America, purchased an additional $670,000, for a combined total in a key state for the governor of less than $1 million.
Frontrunner Donald Trump, who won the Michigan GOP primary, bought just $480,000 in ads while second-place-finisher Sen. Ted Cruz, who never campaigned in the state until a Grand Rapids appearance just hours before the polls opened, invested just $1,100 in TV ads — a decision he may regret for some time.
