Senate Candidates Raise Millions From Donors Outside Their States

Senate candidates in four competitive states are running separate pitches for local voters and out-of-state donors.

An NPR analysis of Google Ads covering the 2025-26 election cycle found that Democratic and Republican candidates in Iowa, Georgia, Ohio and Texas spent more than $15 million on fundraising ads. About three quarters of that money paid for ads that ran nationally. In Georgia and Iowa, more than 80% of itemized individual contributions for Sen. Jon Ossoff and Democratic nominee Josh Turek came from donors outside the state.

ActBlue, which launched in 2004, and WinRed, launched in 2019, handle small-dollar contributions online. Zachary Albert, a politics professor at Brandeis University, said the platforms cut the cost of soliciting donations. "ActBlue and WinRed really reduced the transaction costs for contributing," Albert said. "Even if you're only yielding like a $5 or $10 contribution from someone like the costs of soliciting that are so much lower than they used to be, that it makes it worthwhile."

The advertising reflects the split. Sherrod Brown, the former Ohio Democratic senator running to return to the Senate, asks viewers to turn his state blue. Georgia Republican Rep. Mike Collins asks for help turning his state's Senate seat red. Iowa Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson promotes her "America First" credentials, while Ossoff attacks Trump directly.

Michael Franz of the Wesleyan Media Project said local TV ads avoid party labels to reach moderates and swing voters, while digital ads shown outside the state lean on them. "In a general election campaign for a [local] TV ad, a candidate will never say, 'I'm the Democrat,' because they want to appeal to moderates and swing voters and they want voters across the aisle," Franz said. "But with a digital ad that's airing outside of your state, the party label becomes more important."

The Ossoff campaign told NPR it does not target audiences by location and said the campaign "is powered by small-dollar donors because the Senator refuses donations from corporate PACs and federal lobbyists." The other campaigns declined to comment or did not respond to interview requests.

Daniel Hopkins, a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said candidates now answer to two groups. "When Jon Ossoff is trying to compete for votes, he's competing against Georgia Republicans," Hopkins said. "But when Jon Ossoff is trying to compete for dollars, he's competing for attention and for donations, ultimately with other prominent Democratic candidates."

Democrats built ActBlue in 2004, about 15 years before Republicans launched WinRed in 2019. Sarah Bryner, a campaign finance director at Public Agenda, said Republicans later recognized a national pool of small donors. "The Republicans realized, especially during Trump, that they do have a national audience of small donors ready to activate behind their preferred candidates for their preferred agenda," Bryner said.

Hawaii caps out-of-state donations starting in 2027. Raymond La Raja, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts, said a national cap would face court challenges: "It's going to be hard to do constitutionally, especially because the Supreme Court has ruled you can't prevent groups from spending as much money as they want in elections." In June, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of coordinated campaign spending.

Bryner said money from outside a state cannot replace votes there. "As much as money in politics is such a factor in America, voters are still ultimately who makes the final decision," Bryner said. "And if you're getting all your money from outside of the state, those people can't vote for you."

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