Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton made a splash with their TV ads in New Mexico in the final week of campaign 2016.
But neither candidate broke into the top three spenders or the top five advertisers during October.
Republican Trump spent $219,500 on 466 ads in the state, while Democrat Clinton spent $179,374 on 1,194 ads. (Clinton’s spending went further because she also bought ads on cable and satellite TV, which is less expensive than network TV ads.)
That’s according to an analysis of TV and cable ad contracts filed with the Federal Communications Commission.
1st Congressional District Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, still tops the list of spenders during October at $427,463.
Advance New Mexico Now is second at nearly $386,000. Most of that spending is targeting Democratic Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, who also is airing ads.
And Democratic secretary of state candidate Maggie Toulouse Oliver tops the list in terms of number of spots aired with 1,785. Many of those spots aired on cable TV. Toulouse Oliver spent $223,134, while Republican Rep. Nora Espinoza spent $201,936 on 1,074 spots.
Several legislative candidates are airing ads in Albuquerque and Las Cruces, many of them on cable TV only.
And Patriot Majority, a national nonprofit funded by unions and liberal individuals, is spending nearly $48,000 to air Spanish language ads on two stations in El Paso. The ads feature comedian George Lopez urging Latinos to vote. It features Lopez making a paper airplane from a ballot and destroying a wall with it.
In all, nearly $2.7 million worth of political TV ads that would take up six days to view aired during October in New Mexico.
Here’s a look at the spending during October through Election Day.