NRSC books more than $2.2 million in Arizona, Wisconsin ads after controversy over canceled spots

FIRST ON FOX – The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Friday is releasing new ads in Wisconsin and Arizona for a total of more than $2.2 million in spending days after other canceled ads led to media stories about alleged fundraising issues.

The New York Times reported earlier this week that the NRSC cut more than $10 million in ads in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Arizona, framing the story as a sign of money issues for Republicans. NRSC spokesman Chris Hartline pushed back on the story, tweeting that the NRSC is not "cancelling spending" but instead moving it to independent expenditure ads on which it cannot work with campaigns. 

Now the group is releasing digital and televisions spots on which it's spending a significant chunk of the money that would have gone to the canceled ads. 

The ad in Wisconsin criticizes Democratic nominee Mandela Barnes over the issue of cash bail, comparing his stance on the issue to those of Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich. 

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It calls Barnes, "a dangerous Democrat." The NRSC is spending $700,000 for television placement of the ad and $460,000 on digital.

The Arizona ad calls Rep. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., "soft" for not opposing some of the provisions in Democrats' recent climate, tax and social spending bill. 

The NRSC is also pushing a Spanish counterpart ad making the same points, on which it's spending $123,000. It calls Kelly, "débil en la lucha poor nosotros." 

The group is spending $813,000 placing the English TV version of the ad, and $185,000 on digital. 

New spending for the NRSC comes after it's come out early with major spending on television ads – $36 million, according to Hartline. But even with a tough electoral environment for Democrats, there are still some fundraising red flags for Republicans. 

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The rival Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) out raised the NRSC during the April-June second quarter of 2022 fundraising. The top outside group that works to elect and re-elect Democratic senators walloped its Republican rival in the latest fundraising quarterly reports. And the fundraising by the four Democratic incumbents who’ve been heavily targeted by the GOP has been staggering, as they’ve dramatically outpaced their Republican challengers.

DSCC executive director Christie Roberts recently said her party’s Senate campaigns "are firing on all cylinders."

Pushing back, NRSC Chairman Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., recently told Fox News Digital that "if you look at the Democrats that were running against, they’re radical Bernie Sanders type Democrats."

And he emphasized that "we've got to raise our money to tell our story. If we tell our story, I think we're gonna have a great year." But he acknowledged, "The Democrats are raising a lot of money."

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Separately from its independent expenditures in Arizona and Wisconsin, the NRSC also has a hybrid ad buy coordinated with the Mehmet Oz Senate campaign starting in Pennsylvania Friday.