Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns at NYT:
For the final two weeks of the election, Democratic campaigns and outside groups are on track to substantially outspend Republicans, strategists on both sides say. Democrats are set to spend $143 million on television advertising in House races, compared with $86 million for Republicans, according to one analysis by a Democratic strategist tracking media buys.
Democratic super PACs and other outside groups are poised to outspend their Republican counterparts by a wide margin, erasing an advantage Republicans planned on having.
Much of the Democrats’ unanticipated firepower comes from one source: Michael R. Bloomberg, the liberal former New York City mayor who may run for president, plans to spend about $20 million on House advertising through his super PAC, Independence USA, in the final week of the campaign, a Bloomberg adviser said.
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“It’s the suburban seats and it’s the flow of money,” Representative Tom Cole, a longtime Oklahoma Republican and former House campaign chairman, said of the party’s two overriding concerns.
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“Some of the guys who should be in trouble are doing O.K.,” said Michael Steel, a longtime House Republican strategist, alluding to lawmakers in districts Mr. Trump lost or only narrowly carried. “But there appear to be little fires everywhere.”
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“I think we’ll have a suburban wave,” said Liesl Hickey, a former executive director of the N.R.C.C. “A lot of the districts that we are most likely to lose are Democratic-leaning, they’re just going to what their modern DNA is.”
Bloomberg's Independence USA PAC has run ads all over the country.
Jordan Graham at the Orange County Register:
Wall Street billionaire Michael Bloomberg spent $4.3 million this week to help Democrat Harley Rouda in his effort to unseat 30-year GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher in their fight to represent much of coastal Orange County.
In the process, Bloomberg, a former Republican, helped make the 48th Congressional District the nation’s most expensive active House campaign in terms of outside spending, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
More than $18.2 million has been spent on the race by interested partisan groups, nearly three quarters coming from Democrats. The race’s price tag swells to $29 million when including money from candidate committees.
