More campaign money will mean more Arizona ads for US Senate race

PHOENIX — The leaders in the Arizona race to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake have been raking in contributions and that will likely mean an onslaught of campaign ads in the coming weeks.

“Advertisements will be unavoidable not only on television and radio, but in your mailbox and in your social media,” Valley political consultant Stan Barnes told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Wednesday.
The primaries are scheduled Aug. 28. The general election will be held Nov. 6.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Krysten Sinema and Republican U.S. Rep. Martha McSally are the front-runners in the Senate race and have been outpacing their rivals in fundraising.

“Money used to equal victory but that has changed and it’s changed because social media has changed voter behavior,” Barnes said.

Sinema and Republican U.S. Rep. Martha McSally — have combined to raise about $9 million, according to April quarterly filings at the Federal Election Commission.

Filings for the latest quarter were due this week, but none of the candidates’ financial totals had been updated yet.

Sinema had over $6.5 million in cash on hand through March 31, while fellow Democratic candidate Deedra Abboud had around $16,500.

Among GOP candidates, McSally had almost $2.6 million. Dr. Kelli Ward had just over $432,000 and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio almost $255,000 during that time frame.

A super PAC contributed $500,000 to Ward’s campaign, it was reported this week.

“Social media is not nearly as expensive as traditional direct mail television and radio buys.”

Polling has put Sinema in the lead over Republican rivals for months, including a CBS News poll in June, when she led McSally 41 percent to 34 percent and Ward 43 percent to 35 percent.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Jeremy Foster contributed to this report.

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