With the balance of Congress at stake and many races—particularly in the Senate—fiercely competitive, candidates have pulled out all the stops in their campaigns while their parties turn to ad spending at historic levels.According to the analytics firm AdImpact, this election cycle is now the most expensive in history. With $11.2 billion on ads and future reservations, 2025-2026 has now overtaken all other cycles, including 2023-2024, despite the latter involving a presidential race. Spending is predictably higher in this year’s battlegrounds, peaking at half a billion dollars in Texas, the majority of which is pro-Republican. AdImpact initially expected only $124...