FARGO — With less of a national profile than other Republican candidates vying for the 2024 presidential nomination, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has come out guns blazing on ad spending in a push to get his message out.
In just two weeks, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has spent more on broadcast advertising than any other presidential candidate in the 2024 race, according to ad tracking data reported by NBC News on Wednesday, June 21.
Since his official campaign launch, Burgum has spent about $2.9 million on ads, NBC reported, citing numbers provided by ad tracking agency AdImpact. Most of that cash has been spent in Iowa and New Hampshire, the earliest states to choose their presidential nominees.
Burgum’s spending is almost three times the $1 million spent by the campaign of South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the report said. And it's also significantly more than GOP frontrunner former President Donald Trump and current runner-up Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Trump and DeSantis' campaigns have spent about $200,000 and $100,000 respectively, according to the report, but that’s just one part of the picture. Most of their ad spending is coming from independent groups. But Burgum is outspending those outside groups too, and has done so in just two weeks.
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Trump’s political action committee MAGA Inc. has spent about $2.8 million and DeSantis’ Never Back Down spent less than $2.9 million, the report said.
Why so much spending? Burgum announced his presidential bid a little later than many of the other candidates, and he doesn’t have quite the same national profile. The former software executive turned governor has deep pockets and can pay for campaign expenses on his own.
Money can get his name on screens and speakers, but he’ll have to build support to gain access to other important platforms. In order to make an August GOP presidential candidates debate in Milwaukee, Burgum has to consistently place 1% in national polls and obtain 40,000 individual donors.
Burgum held 1% support in a few national polls in late May and earlier in June, but so far his leading ad spending has not moved the needle. After four days of campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire, and numerous national media appearances, he had 0% support in four consecutive polls, though a poll from the Trump campaign this week placed support at 1%.
As of Wednesday, a poll aggregation from Real Clear Politics placed Burgum’s average support at 0.3%. And a CNN poll released Tuesday found 60% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independent voters said they would not support Burgum under any circumstances.
That’s just second to former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who sits at 61% voters who would never give him their support. The survey found 21% of voters said they’d never support GOP frontrunner former President Donald Trump. Florida Gov. Ron Desantis was at 23%.
Burgum’s total spending estimate from AdImpact is higher than a June 8 count from Medium Buying, another ad tracker, which placed Burgum’s spending around $2.4 million.
The ads, which started running last week , include a one-minute spot introducing voters in those states to Burgum's small-town upbringing and the story of how he built a software company into a billion-dollar business. It's based on his campaign launch video released earlier this month.
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A shorter ad focuses on Burgum's policy proposals: cutting taxes and bureaucracy, boosting oil and gas production, and taking a tougher stance with foreign adversaries of the U.S.
This story has been updated to accurately reflect recent polling for Doug Burgum.
The Trust Project
