The Brief

Altogether, $10.5 billion has been spent on campaign ads in the 2024 election cycle, on races from president down to county commissioner, according to data compiled by the ad-tracking firm AdImpact and analyzed by NPR.
That total is up $1 billion from four years ago.

Democrats have outspent Republicans, $5 billion to $4.1 billion, from the beginning of the cycle, starting in January 2023. (Independent, third-party and nonpartisan groups account for the rest.)

Twenty-three states this cycle have seen more than $100 million spent. But one state tops them all: Pennsylvania. An astonishing $1.2 billion has been spent on ads in the state, the first time in U.S. history that a single state has seen more than $1 billion in ads.

Pennsylvania has been a political hotbed in this cycle. In addition to the presidential campaign, which has dumped in $576 million in ads, there are also competitive Senate and House races in the state. The Senate contest has seen $344 million, and that’s not even the most money spent on a Senate race. That honor belongs to Ohio, where about $518 million in ads have run.

Across the country, about $3 billion has been spent on the presidential election, including the primaries. That’s slightly lower than 2020, but that was skewed by former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg spending $586 million in ads for his failed Democratic primary effort. That was almost as much as the $651 million that President Biden’s campaign spent in the primary and general election against former President Donald Trump.

About $2.6 billion of this year’s total has gone to general election efforts, which started unofficially after Super Tuesday in March.

Since March 6, Democrats — including the Biden and Harris campaigns, as well as outside groups supporting them — have outspent Republicans, $1.6 billion to $956 million.

The presidential campaign has been concentrated in seven states. Almost $4 out of every $5 spent for the presidential election has gone to Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada.

Democrats have outspent Republicans in each of the seven states. The most, $578 million, went to none other than Pennsylvania. Each party spent more than a quarter of all their ad money in the Keystone state.

The amount of money spent in the presidential election is remarkable compared to 2020, considering how much smaller the field of competitive states is and that Florida is out of the ad-spending picture.

In 2020, $371 million was spent in the general election on Florida, an expensive place to buy ads because of its multiple media markets. This year, only $4 million has been spent there.

In 2020, the most money spent was on Georgia. It was hotly contested in the presidential election and had a Senate runoff. But with all races combined in Georgia in 2020, $787 million was spent, almost half-a-billion dollars less than the spending seen in Pennsylvania this year. Georgia has seen the third-most spending specifically in the presidential election this year, $304 million, behind Pennsylvania and Michigan ($376 million).

The biggest spenders in this election include the presidential campaigns, committees trying to elect candidates to the Senate and House, as well as several outside groups.

Here are the top 10 spenders:

1. Harris for President (D) $513 million

2. FF PAC (D) $441 million

3. MAGA Inc. (R) $360 million

4. WinSenate (D) $353 million

5. Trump for President (R) $327 million

6. Senate Leadership Fund (R) $224 million

7. House Majority PAC (D) $207 million

8. Congressional Leadership Fund (R) $201 million

9. Biden for President (D) $111 million

10. Harris Victory Fund (D) $111 million

The ads with the most money behind them are from outside groups:

$36 million: FF PAC

More money has been spent on this ad, running since Oct. 22, than on any other. It’s from the pro-Harris outside group, FF PAC. It highlights a man who says he’s “a lifelong Republican” and voted for Trump twice, but is now voting for Harris.

$26.7 million: MAGA Inc.

This ad focuses on Harris’ record as a prosecutor and tries to paint her as a San Francisco liberal. It has run on heavy circulation since Oct. 9 in five of the seven swing states: North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

These are the top-two ads from the campaigns:

Harris campaign: economy contrast

This contrast ad focuses on what Harris wants to do for the economy compared to Trump. The Harris campaign has spent $19 million on this ad and has run it widely.

Trump campaign: cutting taxes

The Trump campaign has left the heavy lifting in the ad race to MAGA Inc., the principal outside group supporting his candidacy. The most the campaign has spent on a single ad has been this digital ad about ending taxes on Social Security benefits and tips.

Copyright 2024 NPR

Four million acres of California’s wildest backcountry could soon be opened to paving roads and logging.

The Trump administration announced last week that it’s pushing forward with a proposal to scrap a 2001 rule that blocks logging, road building and other construction in parts of national forests. The administration argues repealing the so-called “roadless rule” is key to managing vegetation to better prevent wildfires on public lands.

Environmental advocates and other groups worry rescinding the rule would harm pristine habitat and the wildlife it supports, and open up more public land to industrial activities and human access that can cause more wildfires.

And locals are worried about losing access to some of the last protected natural lands in the region.

“What we're dealing with here in the roadless rule is the protection of the backcountry,” said David Browning, president of the Orange County Mountain Bike Association, “where you can actually go out and be having an experience where you don't hear traffic, where you don't see buildings, where you actually remember what it was like before all of us got here.”

In Southern California, large swaths of the Los Padres, Angeles, San Bernardino and Cleveland national forests would lose protections.

Browning, who spoke with All Things Considered host Julia Paskin on Monday, said he’s particularly concerned about the Santa Ana Mountains, where much of Orange County’s backcountry biking trails exist within a roadless area that could be opened to construction.

“Our mission is to protect and expand trail access, and so our entire agenda is to make sure that in a highly populated county, like Orange, that we have available the outdoors to be able to go and enjoy,” he said.

Browning takes issue with the wildfire argument — he pointed to the 2024 Airport Fire, which was sparked when heavy equipment operated by Orange County employees struck a rock. They were moving large boulders that day to, in part, block vehicles from getting into a dry brush area and potentially starting a fire. Browning said the “roadless rule” prevents such access that could increase the risk of fire. A recent peer-reviewed study supports that, finding that although roads are important for managing a fire once it ignites, they’re also more likely to be a place where a fire starts.

Though addressing wildfires and protecting public lands have become heavily politicized under the Trump administration, Browning thinks most locals probably aren’t as divided.

“ I don't think this is a party issue,” he said. “We want to hold onto the outdoors and protect them as best we can.”

There unfortunately isn’t much respite in sight for heat-weary Southern Californians.

Forecasters say this week’s heat wave is likely to be the hottest so far this summer. Extreme heat warnings will be in effect from the National Weather Service for almost the entire region from Tuesday morning through Friday evening.

Temperatures will peak between Tuesday and Thursday.

Highs in downtown Los Angeles are expected to reach around 100 degrees, and the warmest inland valleys will get up to 112. L.A. County beaches will hit the high 80s.

Forecasters have also issued Red Flag Warnings for the interior mountains and foothills of Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Gusty winds and low humidity at higher elevations mean fires could spark and spread quickly.

At lower elevations, humidity continues to make the heat feel more sweltering and make it harder to cool down, especially at night. Nighttime temperatures will only get down to the 70s in most places, including along the coast.

A slight cooldown is expected this weekend, though forecasters say temperatures will stay above normal into next week.

The extreme heat this week poses an especially high risk of heat-related illness for people over 65, young children, people who work or spend a lot of time outside and those without access to air conditioning.

Driving the heat

Several factors are behind this week’s heat wave, many of which have also been behind the rest of this summer’s consistently hot weather.

The main driver is a high pressure air system hovering over the southwestern U.S., trapping warm air, compressing it and warming it further, and blocking cooler air from entering the region.

Offshore winds are also pushing warm inland air toward the coast, preventing cooler onshore winds from blowing inland.

“That blocks our natural air conditioning off the ocean from coming in as early as it normally does,” said Weather Service meteorologist Mike Wofford. “So as long as that cool air stays offshore, it heats up on land.”

The offshore winds are not strong enough, however, to significantly dry out the air in the L.A. Basin and cut down on the humidity.

“That's probably going to be around for the whole summer because you’ve got all this warm ocean water that's feeding into that,” Wofford said.

Warmer seawater evaporates faster, adding to moisture in the air and increasing humidity across the region, especially along the coasts.

Air quality warnings

Along with the heat this week, many Southern Californians also have smog to worry about.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued an ozone advisory on Monday for inland areas of Los Angeles and Orange counties, much of Riverside County and parts of San Bernardino County. It will remain in effect through Friday evening.

The multi-day smog event is in part driven by the heatwave.

Officials say ozone pollution may reach unhealthy levels or higher in the Santa Clarita Valley, parts of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino valleys, and portions of the San Bernardino Mountains.

Under unhealthy levels, it’s possible for anyone to experience adverse health effects like difficulty breathing and throat irritation. Sensitive populations could experience more serious effects.

Levels are expected to be unhealthy for sensitive groups in the San Fernando Valley, Perris Valley, Mission Viejo, Lake Elsinore, Corona, Hemet, Riverside and Pasadena.

Officials advise certain vulnerable groups — including people with heart or lung disease, those with asthma, pregnant women, children and people over 65 — to limit their time outdoors.

Officials predict that ozone levels will be lower along the coast.