{"id":1713,"date":"2026-07-08T15:15:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T10:15:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=1713"},"modified":"2026-07-08T15:15:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T10:15:36","slug":"exclusive-republicans-juice-spending-to-protect-senate-red-wall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=1713","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Republicans juice spending to protect Senate &quot;red wall&quot;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/HnN5GgY9vHsDiuJzH-UxO6IWIis=\/0x0:1280x720\/2026\/07\/06\/1783369212782.gif\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Republicans are dramatically boosting campaign spending on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/02\/06\/gop-senate-midterms-2026\" target=\"_blank\">Senate races<\/a> in red states that, until recently, looked safely out of Democrats&#8217; reach in the November midterms.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters: <\/strong>The GOP \u2014 alarmed by recent polls and voting trends \u2014 is juicing its efforts in Ohio and Iowa to reinforce a Senate &#8220;red wall&#8221; they believe can block Democrats&#8217; path to a majority in the chamber.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>The clearest evidence yet: <\/strong>One Nation, the conservative nonprofit aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), is reserving $28 million in TV advertising in <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/x5TCRMEEE2M\" target=\"_blank\">Ohio<\/a> and $11 million in <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/9T4ahT30lKM%20\" target=\"_blank\">Iowa<\/a>, according to plans obtained by Axios.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Republican candidates are locked in tough races in those states less than two years after President Trump won both by double digits.<\/li>\n<li>The TV ads will begin Wednesday and will run through the summer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Behind the scenes:<\/strong> During a June 1 conference call with Thune and top GOP donors, One Nation executive director Alex Latcham touted roughly $100 million in planned spending on Democrat-held Senate seats in New Hampshire, Georgia and Michigan, according to a person familiar with the call.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>But Latcham also acknowledged the political headwinds facing Republicans in red states, and argued for doubling down on investments in GOP-held seats in Ohio, Iowa, Alaska, Maine and North Carolina.<\/li>\n<li>Not long ago, Ohio and Iowa looked like they didn&#8217;t need much help from the GOP to defend. <\/li>\n<li>Democrats need a net gain of four seats to take control of the Senate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Zoom in: <\/strong>Republicans are especially worried about Ohio Sen. Jon Husted&#8217;s unexpectedly competitive race against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who&#8217;s outraised Husted by more than 2 to 1.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In Iowa, Rep. Ashley Hinson is confronting voters dissatisfied with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/01\/27\/us\/politics\/trump-iowa-farms-tariffs.html\" target=\"_blank\">Trump&#8217;s tariffs<\/a> and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/economics\/farmers-iowa-struggling-trumps-economy-still-support-him-rcna345613\" target=\"_blank\">struggling<\/a> agricultural economy. He faces state Rep. Josh Turek, who&#8217;s emphasized the impact of Trump&#8217;s policies on working Iowans.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Yes, but: <\/strong>Democrats have problems of their own in Maine, where <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/06\/graham-platner-maine-senate-democrats\" target=\"_blank\">Graham Platner<\/a> is facing calls to withdraw amid accusations of sexual misconduct, which he&#8217;s denied. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Democrats need to net four seats to win an outright Senate majority, and Maine \u2014 which Trump lost by 7 points in 2024 \u2014 is seen as a must-win for the party.<\/li>\n<li>If Democrats don&#8217;t defeat Maine Sen. Susan Collins, their path to the majority gets much harder. Democrats&#8217; road would get even more narrow if Republicans hold on to the Senate seats in Ohio and Iowa.<\/li>\n<li>One Nation is also reserving $6 million to spend in <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/s9-y1d4QQ5k%20\" target=\"_blank\">New Hampshire<\/a>, where Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is retiring. Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas is expected to face off against former Republican Sen.  John Sununu.<\/li>\n<li>Thune&#8217;s political operation is planning more than $400 million in spending \u2014 most of it through the Senate Leadership Fund super PAC, which is allied with One Nation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What they&#8217;re saying:<\/strong> &#8220;One Nation is proud to highlight the many conservative policies that have provided meaningful results for working families,&#8221; Latcham said in a statement. <\/p>\n<p><strong>The other side: <\/strong>&#8220;This five-alarm fire by Republicans shows they know just how fragile their Senate majority is. Democrats have expanded the map with strong candidates and formidable campaigns,&#8221; Tommy Garcia, a spokesperson for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, told Axios.<\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republicans are dramatically boosting campaign spending on Senate races in red states that, until recently, looked safely out of Democrats&#8217; reach in the November midterms. Why it matters: The GOP \u2014 alarmed by recent polls and voting trends \u2014 is juicing its efforts in Ohio and Iowa to reinforce a Senate &#8220;red wall&#8221; they believe&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/HnN5GgY9vHsDiuJzH-UxO6IWIis=\/0x0:1280x720\/2026\/07\/06\/1783369212782.gif","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}