A super political action committee supporting Senator Tim Scott’s presidential run is planning a $40 million advertising campaign in key states, according to a person familiar with the group’s strategy.
A large advertising infusion could elevate the candidacy of the South Carolina Republican, who has so far been polling in the single digits and whose campaign has struggled to raise money on the scale of former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
The ads, which will be in early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, will unfold in the fall, according to the person familiar with the plans of the Trust in the Mission PAC, or TIM.
The commitment, which was reported earlier by the New York Times, comes as DeSantis, who is currently polling in second place, has been cutting staff and switching tactics after a Federal Election Commission disclosure showed his campaign was burning through cash.
Some donors see Scott as a potential alternative if the DeSantis campaign continues to lose momentum.
It’s not yet clear where the money for the ads is coming from. The super PAC said last week that it ended the second quarter with $15 million in the bank.
Scott has a history of courting well-heeled donors. Oracle Corp. chair and co-founder Larry Ellison plowed $30 million into the Opportunity Matters Fund, the super PAC supporting Scott’s 2022 Senate campaign. Scott, who is the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, also garnered donations from two big names in finance: Blackstone Inc.’s Steve Schwarzman and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer David Solomon.
Even before the announcement, the TIM PAC had been the biggest spender on television, radio and digital ads of any in the GOP nomination contest. Before its decision to spend $40 million, the organization had reserved $5.9 million in ads, mostly in Iowa and New Hampshire, according to ad-tracking firm AdImpact.