Trump campaign dialing back ads in Midwest states: report

President Trump’s reelections campaign is removing millions of dollars in television ad spending aimed at voters in Midwestern states, BuzzFeed News reported Wednesday. 

The news outlet, which confirmed the ad spending numbers with the data firm Advertising Analytics, found that the Trump campaign has cut at least $2 million in advertising spots in both Michigan and Wisconsin since September.

In the battleground state of Minnesota, which Trump lost in 2016 by only 2 percentage points, the campaign has removed $5 million from its planned fall television ad spending. 

This follows reporting from CNN Tuesday that the campaign canceled all planned television ads in Ohio and Iowa. 

Trump campaign spokesperson Samantha Zager told The Hill in a statement Wednesday that “it’s cute that Joe Biden and his campaign think buying ads in these states makes up for years of Democrats viewing them as flyover country.”

“If overspending on TV ads determined the outcome of elections, Hillary Clinton would be president,” Zager added. 

Ahead of the 2016 presidential election, Clinton and her main super PAC spent more than $90 million on television ads, compared to only $11 million from groups supporting Trump. 

“Biden can try to buy votes, but President Trump and his campaign will continue earning them on the ground and on the airwaves — and come November, we’ll be celebrating victory while Biden binge watches his TV ads from his basement,” Zager added in the statement. 

On Tuesday, in response to reports on the canceling of ads in Ohio and Iowa, Zager said in a statement that they had made this decision because “President Trump and his campaign are extremely confident about our chances in these states.” 

The Biden campaign and Democratic National Committee raised about $150 million more than the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee in August.

In early September, a report from political scientists at the Wesleyan Media Project found that pro-Biden coalitions had spent $59 million to air 106,000 television spots throughout the previous month. Over the same period, Trump backers spent $36 million to air about 57,000 commercials.