Republicans are chasing key governorships. There's one big thing missing.

[brooklynite]

Politico

TV watchers in most battlegrounds are getting bombarded with political ads. But one key group of candidates is missing from the airwaves in many states: Republican gubernatorial hopefuls.

Republicans in some of the most hotly contested gubernatorial battlegrounds are barely spending any money on television ads, if at all, according to a POLITICO review of spending in state races. And elsewhere, GOP candidates who are on the airwaves are nevertheless getting significantly outspent by Democratic opponents.

Supportive super PACs or outfits backed by the Republican Governors Association are filling in the gaps, but GOP candidates are still facing a significant deficit in the final weeks before the election. The wide gap between Democrats and their challengers will test how much Republicans can rely on the political environment to carry them in President Joe Biden’s first midterm election, as well as one of the oldest maxims of campaigning: that even in the digital age, advertising on TV early and often is the best way to reach the masses and shape voter opinion and media coverage.

The spending disparity has been most acute in a handful of the most tightly divided states at the center of American politics: Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania. There, a trio of candidates endorsed by former President Donald Trump — Kari Lake, Tudor Dixon and Doug Mastriano — have been largely missing on the airwaves.

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Oh, not in GA. SO MANY Kemp ads or HATEFUL lie-filled Anti Abrams ads.

[TheRealNorth]

2. I think the money narrative that Republicans have less is bullshit

Private money attacking Democrats is flooding the airwaves. It might not be saying, "Vote for Republican Governor X", but it is attacking Democratic gubernatorial candidates, driving down their support and potentially depressing Democratic turnout (as negative ads tend to do).

[KPN]

3. Oregon governorship is at risk of going R largely as a result of a mod Dem, Betsy Johnson, who

decided to run as an Independent. Tina Kotek (D) is running a 1-3 points behind Christine Drazan (R). Oregon has not had a Republican Governor since 1987. Johnson, who is running on the silly notion today that "working together" will actually work, is drawing slightly less than 20% of the vote.

It's neck and neck, but Drazan seems to be trending up at the moment. Based on numbers of ads, she appears to have a lot of money behind her, so I'm not so sure that this article about Rs falling behind in campaign funding is all that accurate.