Money isn’t everything when it comes to winning campaigns. As primaries in Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina and West Virginia this week showed, you can spend $2 per vote and win, or $105 per vote and lose.

Republican Senate candidates – boosted by allied outside groups – who vied for a November run at three vulnerable Democratic senators spent roughly $1.8 million apiece – or $14 per vote – in the May 8 primary.

Of the three Senate primary races – Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia – Indiana was the most expensive. The top Republican vote-getters – Mike Braun, Luke Messer and Todd Rokita – spent $18 to $21 per vote for a chance to oust Senate Democrat Joe Donnelly in a pro-Trump state.

Rokita also had the support of a super PAC, American Values First, which spent $17,500 supporting his candidacy and an additional $35,000 opposing Braun and Messer.

In Ohio, the top three Republican Senate candidates spent about $2.9 million total, or roughly a third of the spending in Indiana. Most of that came from banker Mike Gibbons, the only candidate in the Senate primaries who outspent his opponents and lost. He spent $9 per vote.

Rep. Jim Renacci won the nomination with $2 per vote. Despite finishing third, Melissa Ackison got the most bang for her buck. Her 99,455 votes cost the equivalent of vending machine Doritos (51 cents).

The biggest spender in the three Republican Senate primaries was West Virginia’s Don Blankenship.

The former coal executive-turned-inmate finished third despite spending over $2.8 million on a campaign that featured over 10,000 TV ads and a new nickname for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Blankenship’s 27,153 votes cast in favor of his self-funded campaign ran about $105 a piece. On the bright side, he’s no longer on probation as of midnight Tuesday.

His two opponents in the primary – Rep. Evan Jenkins and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey – also spent handsomely.

Morrisey secured the nomination, setting up a November meeting with Democrat Joe Manchin, another vulnerable senator facing reelection in a state Trump won handily. Spending by Morrisey’s campaign coupled with friendly outside groups reached nearly $2 million, or roughly $41 per vote.

These totals, however, do not include the nearly $5.7 million reported to the FEC by outside groups opposing various candidates in these three races, mostly in West Virginia.

The biggest outside spender by quite a bit was a Democratic-aligned super PAC called Duty & Country PAC, which spent nearly $1.9 million against both Jenkins and Morrisey, in the hopes Democrats would face off against Blankenship in November.

Help us keep government accountable by making a donation today.

The next highest spender was a super PAC linked to the GOP establishment, which aimed to avoid that same scenario. Mountain Families PAC spent more than $1.3 million, all of it targeted at tanking Blankenship’s bid for the Republican nomination.

Still more spending was never even reported to the FEC. For example, a liberal dark money group allied with Senate Democrats has run more than 5,700 ads so far in 2018. Some of that has been directed to Indiana and West Virginia, though it hasn’t reported spending in either state to the FEC.

Similarly, the Koch donor network’s flagship group, Americans for Prosperity, has run at least 15,000 ads this cycle, some of which reached voters in Indiana, though none of that spending has been reported to the FEC.

House Primaries in Open-Seat Races

The May 8 primary also featured five congressional districts with open seats in November, and Republicans outspent Democrats by a wide margin in each of the primaries.

Democratic candidates spent roughly $256,000 (or $64,000 apiece) to win their party’s nomination. That’s about $3.74 per vote. (Data for Jeannine Lee Lake, the Democratic winner in Indiana’s 6th District, was unavailable because she hadn’t raised or spent more than $5,000).

For Democrats, more spending didn’t necessarily lead to more votes. Only two candidates who outspent their opponents won nominations.

Democratic Primary Results in Open-Seat House Races

The five Republican nominees, meanwhile, spent about $2.5 million – or about $497,000 apiece – en route to winning. Four of the five outspent their opponents. (Only Indiana’s Jim Baird in District 4 won without doing so).

Put another way, Republicans and their aligned outside interest groups spent about $31 per vote to win. Democrats spent less than $4.

North Carolina was the only state without a Senate primary or an open House seat at stake Tuesday. The Republican primary in District 9, however, was this week’s costliest in terms of both campaign spending and a politician’s career.

Republican Rep. Robert Pittenger became the first incumbent to lose this primary season. He spent nearly $1 million but finished second to Mark Harris in a 2016 primary rematch.

Pittenger, a three-term congressman, spent the equivalent of $60 per vote, or roughly half of Harris’ ratio. Harris will face Democrat Dan McCready in November.



For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics.For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: [email protected]



