New flood of broadcast ad money spent on Supreme Court race for Bolden, Thomas

By Ben Solis
Gongwer News Service

Slightly more than $1.8 million is set to be spent on campaign ads for the election of Supreme Court Justice Kyra Harris Bolden and attorney Kimberly Thomas to the high court bench in November, according to data from AdImpact.

The data shows previous ad buys in the race touting the two candidates nominated by the Democrats were at $496,000. Data for spending this week shows that number went up by $162,000. Future spending from the committee is $1.15 million.

New ad buys amounting to $21,000 for the October placements – October 8 through October 21 – were purchased by Bryson Gillette Media Placement, which was one of the key expenditures by Bolden and Thomas in their latest post-convention campaign finance reports.

Other spending detailed on AdImpact's recap of the race shows that ACLU and the ACLU Voter Education Fund spent $25,000 and $21,000, respectively, this week on the race. The ACLU in a recent news conference announcing their spending on the race said the ads would be nonpartisan and would serve to highlight differences between the candidates in the race on key issues, like reproductive, voting and LGBTQ civil rights.

Some reporters during the news conference questioned how the advertising could be hailed as nonpartisan when advocating for reproductive rights was an issue that favored Democratic candidates.

For the ACLU and its separate Voter Education Fund, AdImpact shows future spending at $330,000 and $334,000, respectively. Total spending on the race thus far for those two entities sits at $377,000 and $372,000, respectively.

Thus far, the Justice For All PAC has spent $1.38 million on the race in favor of Bolden and Thomas, while the Michigan Democratic State Central Committee has spent $5,000 in advertising for the candidates.

Data from AdImpact shows very lopsided spending in the race. While the spending for Thomas and Bolden is in the million, broadcast spending for Rep. Andrew Fink (R-Hillsdale) and Branch Circuit Judge Patrick O'Grady is less than $3,000.

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