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Biden is highest-spending political candidate on TV ads

24 October 2020
Dan Ackermann

After spending an additional $45.2 million on political ads this week, former Vice President Joe Biden has become the highest-spending political candidate on TV ads ever, according to data from Advertising Analytics.

By the numbers: In total, the Biden campaign has spent $582.7 million on TV ads between 2019 and 2020, officially surpassing Michael Bloomberg's record spend of roughly $582 million. Biden's spend includes his primary and general election advertising.

The big picture: More money has been spent so far this cycle on election and policy ads than any other in American history, per Advertising Analytics.

  • Roughly $7.76 billion has been dropped on political advertising so far this cycle.
  • Overall, the election is on track to become the most expensive in history.

Be smart: For the first time ever, spending on digital political advertising has slightly surpassed cable. Still, advertising spent on broadcast television — mostly at the local level — reigns supreme.

Data: Advertising Analytics; Note: Political includes all election, political and advocacy advertising; Chart: Axios Visuals

What's next: Between now and Election Day, Biden reserved another $57.5 million in TV advertising, while the Republican National Committee and Trump campaign have reserved $19.2 million. The Trump campaign itself has reserved $15 million.

  • Future Forward PAC, which supports Democrats, has reserved $42.2 million while America First Action PAC, which backs Republicans, has reserved $20.4 million.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.