Republicans Are Even Ramping Up Campaign Spending In Deep-Red South Dakota Now

Republican money is flowing into South Dakota's Senate race, a contest in a state the party has long held, as polls show Sen. Mike Rounds with a smaller cushion than expected. Daily Caller reports that Republican-aligned groups put nearly $1.2 million behind Rounds from the week of Aug. 11 through Monday, according to the media-buying firm Polaris. Backers of independent challenger Brian Bengs contributed nearly $516,000. Weekly pro-Rounds outlays leapt from just under $18,000 in mid-September to more than $285,000 the next week.

The South Dakota Conservative PAC alone put $590,861 into independent expenditures against Bengs, with six-figure weekly totals through September. Polls show Rounds ahead 44% to 38% in a Zenith Research survey and 45% to 42% in a Public Policy Polling survey for Bengs. Zenith found Bengs ahead among independents by 47 points. Trump's approval in the state has slid from 54% to 47% since the Iran war began, according to Civiqs, and Rounds said ranchers feel the administration "pulled the rug right out" from under them over imported beef.

The pattern extends elsewhere: Republican PACs have spent about $200 million in Texas, where James Talarico leads Ken Paxton, and Senate Leadership Fund planned $14 million in Kansas.

Summarized by PolitiKool from Daily Caller’s reporting. Read the full story at Daily Caller →