Democrats commit $21 million for online ads in November

Two major Democratic political groups on Wednesday announced a combined $21 million digital ad buy targeting Senate races in November, a sign the party is trying to learn from 2016, when Donald Trump’s Republican presidential campaign was far more aggressive online.

Priorities USA and Senate Majority PAC announced $18 million in joint spending in Arizona, Indiana, Florida, Missouri and North Dakota. Senate Majority PAC also tacked on an additional $3 million in ads targeting Montana, Nevada, Tennessee and West Virginia.

The move comes as Democrats and Republicans are fighting furiously over control of the Senate, where the GOP currently has a narrow 51-49 edge. Although almost all competitive seats are in states Trump won in 2016, Democratic candidates are running strong campaigns in several states including Tennessee, Texas and Arizona.

According to Priorities USA, $7 million has been spent on advertising for Senate races on Google since May 31, with Republicans outspending Democrats 60-40.

And through the end of August, Senate Majority PAC, one of the biggest Democratic financial organizations, spent $37 million in ads on television and radio, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

The conventional wisdom in politics is that Democrats dominated in digital during much of the Obama years because they were more advanced in gathering online data and using it to target voters. But that changed in 2016, when the Trump campaign outspent Hillary Clinton campaign nearly 2-to-1 online.