Trump leads N.M. Facebook ad spending

RIO RANCHO — Republican President Donald Trump has spent more money on Facebook advertising targeting New Mexico users since July than any other candidate, campaign or business, according to a New York University Tandon School of Engineering project that monitor’s Facebook spending.

The Trump campaign and his various affiliates have spent $380,700 on Facebook ads in the state since July 1, the NYU Ad Observatory reported.

That’s more than two times the amount spent during the same period by Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden — the second-highest Facebook spender.

Nationally, Trump has doled out $55.5 million on Facebook ads since July, while Biden has spent $36.8 million.

The website said most of the Facebook ads bought by the Trump campaign is for donations and encouraging voters to attend events. The Trump campaign raised millions of dollars in 2016 using Facebook.

Damon McCoy, professor of computer science and engineering at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering, and doctoral student Laura Edelson built the NYU Tandon Online Transparency Project aimed at bringing transparency to political advertising that targets U.S. voters.

The website found that ICount NM, a U.S. Census Bureau campaign to urge New Mexico residents to participant in the census, spent $111,000 followed by the environmentalist group, the Wilderness Society Action Fund, which spent $75,400.

In the race of the open U.S.

Senate seat in New Mexico, Democratic U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján has spent $13,300 on Facebook ads while Republican Mark Ronchetti has purchased $11,700.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small, in a close race with Republican challenger Yvette Herrell for the state’s southern U.S. House district, bought $42,300 in Facebook ads — more than any other congressional candidate in New Mexico, according to the website.

Herrell bought less than $10,000 in Facebook ads, the project said.