In Indiana, GOP race keeps getting pricier

Spending heats up in week before primary

WASHINGTON – Indiana’s U.S. Senate race is the most expensive in the country, and the pace isn’t letting up before the primary Tuesday.

Senate candidates spent $1 million on ads in the final week before the primary, and self-funding Republican Mike Braun led the way, according to data compiled for the USA TODAY NETWORK by Kantar Media’s Campaign Media Analysis Group. Most of the ads — aired by candidates or outside groups — were negative as Braun and U.S. Reps. Todd Rokita and Luke Messer ran a tight race for the chance to take on Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly.

Republicans view Indiana as one of their best chances to expand their slim Senate majority.

Braun, who briefly served in the state Legislature, runs as the businessman outsider. Rokita, a former secretary of State who has been in Congress since 2011, pitches himself as the fighter in the ring. Messer, who served in the state Legislature and as executive director of the Indiana Republican Party before being elected to the House in 2012, argues he’s got the best record of supporting Trump’s agenda.

Who has spent the most?

Braun spent more than $3.1 million on radio, broadcast and cable TV ads from January through April. That doesn’t include nearly $1 million he dropped in the fall, yet it is still more than the combined amount spent by his two GOP opponents.

Rokita and Messer have spent about

$1.26 million each.

An outside group with ties to Messer spent $533,018 on ads praising him. Another Messer-linked group, whose donors are mostly anonymous, spent

$306,178 on ads criticizing Braun.

Who has the most firepower?

Braun purchased more than

$400,000 in airtime for the final week of the campaign. Rokita bought

$310,488. Messer secured $277,544. Rokita released an ad Wednesday proclaiming himself “tough enough” to stop special counsel Robert Mueller’s “witch hunt” investigation into Russia’s suspected involvement in the

2016 election. He also airs ads criticizing his opponents.

Messer says Rokita is throwing punches, “but I’m still standing.” Another final ad goes after Braun.

Braun’s closing argument is a pitch for candidates “with real-world experience, who get the job done and come back home.” He also airs ads attacking Rokita and Messer.

What about Donnelly?

Though Donnelly is unopposed for the Democratic nomination, he spent more than $270,000 on ads through April and purchased $136,911 in airtime for the final week.

There’s been far more spending on ads by outside groups attacking or supporting Donnelly.

Americans for Prosperity, an advocacy group founded by the billionaire Koch brothers, spent $3.6 million this year on ads criticizing Donnelly for voting against the GOP tax package.

Senate Majority PAC, a super PAC working to put the Senate in Democratic hands, countered with nearly $2 million in ads proclaiming, “Joe Donnelly won’t be bullied.”

How negative have the ads been?

About four in 10 ads have been positive. The rest either unfavorably compare one candidate with another or solely attack a candidate. In Braun’s “swamp brothers” ad, he refers to his opponents as “Todd the fraud” and “Luke the liberal.” Messer and Rokita criticize Braun for voting to raise the state’s gas tax.