House Majority PAC spends $6.5M on early TV reservations

The House Majority PAC is plunking down $6.5 million to make early TV airtime reservations for the districts in which it expects to compete this fall.

The move allows Democrats’ main House super-PAC to buy airtime while prices are lower, long before the campaign starts driving air costs up.

{mosads}Last cycle, the House Majority PAC and other Democratic groups bought much earlier than most of their GOP opponents, allowing them to get more bang for their buck and helping them achieve parity with the number of ads even while being outspent in some places. Their strong early fundraising has allowed them to do that again, though Republican-allied groups could try the same thing this year.

“By placing these reservations early, we will make our dollars go further and ensure we have the air time to effectively fight back against the flood of Koch brothers’ dollars,” said House Majority PAC Executive Director Alixandria Lapp. “We are making wise investments in those districts where we expect we will need to counter negative attacks in the final weeks of the campaign. We will be making additional television reservations later in the cycle, as we see how campaigns and races develop.”

The $6.5 million buy is spread across 24 House districts, most of them obvious battlegrounds, with the most money invested to shore up Reps. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.), Ron Barber (D-Ariz.), Scott Peters (D-Calif.), Patrick Murphy (D-Fla.) and Sean Maloney (D-N.Y.).

Other big investments are going to attack Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.), a top Democratic target, as well as go after a few other Republicans who haven’t been seen as quite as vulnerable, like Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.).

These reservations can be adjusted later, but are a clear indication of where the group thinks the hottest fights will be this fall.