GOP presidential hopeful Ted Cruz speaks to supporters filling GraceWorks Church, in Chattanooga, Tenn., on August 10, 2015 during Cruz’s first stop on a tour of the state. NASHVILLE – Presidential candidates and super PACs are spending some $1.8 million on television ads in Tennessee ahead of the Super Tuesday primaries, and nearly $98,000 of that is for air time in Chattanooga, according to estimates.
Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and two super PACs aligned with the Texan account for $1.03 million, or 63.5 percent, of the statewide total, according to figures provided by a Republican strategist with access to ad-spending monitoring services and culled from Chattanooga stations’ filings with the Federal Communications Commission.
U.S. Rep. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and a super PAC backing him, Conservative Solutions, was a distant second, spending $388,000 or 26.5 percent of the statewide total.
Billionaire businessman Donald Trump, meanwhile, spent just $200,000, a drop in the bucket of statewide totals. But despite that, a new NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll puts the former TV reality star at No. 1 in Tennessee among Republican primary voters.
The front-runner, though is being slammed by an anti-Trump political action committee called Our Principals PAC which is spending $10,000 on radio ads. The group has been linked to a fellow billionaire, Marlene Ricketts, the matriarch of the family that owns the Chicago Cubs baseball team.
And some of the Rubio and Cruz-aligned super PACs are attacking Trump as well. Super PACs can raise unlimited sums from corporations, unions, associations and individuals donors and spend the money to advocate for or against political candidates.
Super PACS are legally barred from coordinating with candidates.
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, has spent $180,000 in Nashville and Memphis media markets. But Clinton hasn’t spent the first dime in either Chattanooga or Knoxville.
Her Democratic rival, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the democratic socialist from Vermont, has spent nothing at all in Tennessee, FCC filings show.
Neither have Republican Gov. John Kasich of Ohio and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.
Cruz’s campaign has directly spent or reserved ad time worth $594,800 statewide. Of that, $24,000 is being spent in Chattanooga, where Cruz found adoring crowds during a visit last year.
The Texas Tea Party and religious conservative also has two super PACs backing him. One is Keep the Promise, which has spent or reserved $147,360 for ads statewide, including $26,750 for Chattanooga. The other is Stand for Truth, which is spending $297,500 statewide and $13,930 in Chattanooga.
Rubio’s campaign is spending just $87,200 statewide and $5,442 in Chattanooga, which he visited last year. But a Rubio-aligned super PAC called Conservative Solutions PAC is shelling out $301,700 statewide, with $20,560 in the Chattanooga market. Most of their advertising appears to be blasting Trump.
Trump has spent $7,005 in Chattanooga.
Chattanooga is Tennessee’s fourth-largest city, behind Memphis, Nashville and Knoxville, and the area leans Republican. Some political observers thought there would be far more television ads as well as candidate visits in the final stretch before Super Tuesday because local stations reach into North Georgia and North Alabama, which are also holding primaries.
Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama are part of the “SEC Primary,” a subset of six mostly Southern states that have college teams in the Southeastern Conference.
Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com, 615-255-0550 or follow via Twitter at @AndySher1.