Senate Hopefuls Pull More Than $15M in Ads Aimed at Donors Outside Their States

Senate candidates in competitive races are spending money to reach donors who cannot vote for them. An NPR analysis of Google Ads found that Democratic and Republican candidates spent more than $15 million on advertising tied to fundraising in the 2025-26 election cycle across four Senate races in Iowa, Georgia, Ohio and Texas. About three quarters of that money funded ads that ran nationally.

The ads that run outside a candidate's home state sound different from the ones that run inside it. Former Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is seeking to return to the Senate, calls on viewers to turn his state blue. Georgia Republican Rep. Mike Collins asks for help turning his state's Senate seat red. Iowa Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson promotes her America First credentials. Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff attacks President Trump directly.

The money follows the messaging. More than 80% of itemized individual contributions for Ossoff and Iowa Democratic nominee Josh Turek came from outside their states, according to the analysis. ActBlue, the Democratic grassroots fundraising platform launched in 2004, and WinRed, its Republican counterpart launched in 2019, both make it possible to collect small donations at low cost.

Zachary Albert, a politics professor at Brandeis University, said those platforms changed the math of soliciting donations. "ActBlue and WinRed really reduced the transaction costs for contributing," Albert said. "Even if you're only yielding like a $5 or $10 contribution from someone like the costs of soliciting that are so much lower than they used to be, that it makes it worthwhile."

Michael Franz of the Wesleyan Media Project said the party label appears more often in ads that run beyond a candidate's state. "In a general election campaign for a [local] TV ad, a candidate will never say, 'I'm the Democrat,' because they want to appeal to moderates and swing voters and they want voters across the aisle," Franz said. "But with a digital ad that's airing outside of your state, the party label becomes more important."

Daniel Hopkins, a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said candidates now answer to two audiences: local voters and a national pool of donors. "When Jon Ossoff is trying to compete for votes, he's competing against Georgia Republicans," Hopkins said. "But when Jon Ossoff is trying to compete for dollars, he's competing for attention and for donations, ultimately with other prominent Democratic candidates."

Out-of-state money for congressional campaigns has grown each election cycle, according to OpenSecrets. Democrats built ActBlue in 2004, about 15 years before Republicans launched WinRed, and Democrats have relied more on outside funds in competitive states such as Ohio and Michigan. Republicans moved later. "The Republicans realized, especially during Trump, that they do have a national audience of small donors ready to activate behind their preferred candidates for their preferred agenda," said Sarah Bryner, a director who studies campaign finance at Public Agenda.

State rules are starting to change. Hawaii will cap out-of-state donations starting in 2027. Alaska requires ads to list the top three donors, and Colorado and Virginia have similar laws for online and broadcast ads. Raymond La Raja, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts, said a national restriction would be difficult. "It's going to be hard to do constitutionally, especially because the Supreme Court has ruled you can't prevent groups from spending as much money as they want in elections," La Raja said.

Bryner said money raised outside a state does not guarantee a win. Amy McGrath ran against Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell in Kentucky, and Beto O'Rourke ran against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas; both raised heavily from out-of-state donors and lost. "As much as money in politics is such a factor in America, voters are still ultimately who makes the final decision," Bryner said. "And if you're getting all your money from outside of the state, those people can't vote for you." The Ossoff campaign said in a statement that it is powered by small-dollar donors because the senator refuses donations from corporate PACs and federal lobbyists. The other campaigns declined to comment or did not respond to interview requests.