Candidates wage war on Iowa's airwaves in final hours before caucuses

Candidates wage war on Iowa's airwaves in final hours before caucuses

The major Republican presidential candidates battling for the 2024 GOP nomination are not only taking aim at each other on the Iowa campaign trail, they’re also spending big bucks to target their rivals on Iowa TV and radio airwaves and on-line on social media in the Hawkeye State.

That according to the latest data from AdImpact, a leading national ad tracking firm.

The campaigns have shelled out an eyepopping and unprecedented $123 million this cycle to run ads in Iowa, whose caucuses Monday night lead off the GOP presidential nominating calendar.

That’s nearly half the roughly $270 million spent nationwide in the Republican presidential primaries.

By comparison, only $72.5 million has been dished out to date to run ads in New Hampshire, which holds the first primary in the GOP schedule, eight days after the Iowa caucuses.

In the final two weeks leading up to Monday’s caucuses, Nikki Haley appeared to be the biggest spending. Groups aligned with the former ambassador to the United Nations and former two-term South Carolina governor spent $7.8 million on ads according to AdImpact, followed by $6.1 million spent on behalf of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Roughly $3.5 million was spent on ads for former President Donald Trump, with just $127,000 on behalf of multi-millionaire entrepreneur and first-time candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.