Tim Scott-boosting super PAC drops $40 million in fall ad reservations

A super PAC aligned with Sen. Tim Scott is dropping $40 million in fall ad reservations, the largest buy of the presidential race so far.

Trust In the Mission PAC, the spending group boosting the South Carolina senator’s presidential campaign, will begin placing the ad buys immediately, a spokesperson for the organization told POLITICO on Tuesday.

The new television and digital advertisements are set to start running Sept. 7 — just after the super PAC’s $7 million summer ad campaign winds down — and will go through January. The television ads will run in the early nominating states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina — as well as on national cable networks — just as the primary debate season is underway.

Scott remains locked in a slow-moving fight with a handful of other candidates for the No. 3 spot in the GOP primary. He is under pressure to boost his name recognition with voters to advance in the polls. Since announcing an exploratory committee in April and an official campaign in May, Scott has remained in the single digits as additional candidates have entered the race. But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in second place, has shown signs of slipping.

“This initial ad reservation allows us to lock-in the best inventory, times and locations at the lowest cost for any outside group in the 2024 race,” said Rob Collins, a Republican strategist serving as co-chair of TIM PAC, in a statement to POLITICO. “As prices sky-rocket in the coming weeks, we will have a stable plan that will allow us to efficiently communicate our message, conduct a well-rounded campaign and better manage our cash."

While candidates enjoy lower ad rates than other groups wading into elections, television time for super PACs becomes increasingly expensive as more spots are purchased. Scott’s aligned super PAC is so far the only group or campaign to have made any ad reservations post-Labor Day, according to the ad-tracking service AdImpact.

To date, Scott and his allied super PAC have run a combined $7 million worth of television and digital advertisements, trailing only the super PACs of Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, which have already dropped $20 million and $15.5 million, respectively, per AdImpact.

The super PAC also confirmed that it launched a door-knocking effort in June, and has a “multi-touch field program” underway in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina that includes door canvassing, direct mail, digital advertisements and text messages.

Those initiatives are being carried out by “nearly 100” door-knockers, the super PAC said in a statement, while roughly a dozen paid staffers are employed in the early states by TIM PAC.

The first GOP debate is set for Aug. 23. For candidates who reach the Republican National Committee’s aggressive polling and donor criteria to make the stage, the occasion could allow some in the field, like Scott, to finally break out of the single digits and achieve momentum. Trump has dominated throughout the primary, continuing to hold the support of roughly 50 percent of the Republican primary electorate, polling averages show.