Outside groups already spending millions in Iowa as Republican presidential field grows

Clarification: This story has been updated to clarify that super PACs backing Donald Trump and Tim Scott have spent money across multiple states on advertising, but the money is designated for Iowa due to FEC guidelines. As a result, the totals for PAC spending in Iowa for those groups are inflated by multistate expenditures.

Outside political groups have already poured millions of dollars into Iowa this presidential election cycle, as donors and supporters aim to raise awareness of their candidates of choice — or slam their opponents — ahead of the first-in-the-nation caucuses.

Political action committees have designated almost $25 million to the state so far this year, according to a Des Moines Register review of Federal Election Commission data — much of which has been used to bombard Iowans with advertising on TV, online and through text messages and email.

It's a surefire sign of a crowded and competitive primary, one that continues to grow in size and intensity as the weeks roll on. And it indicates a strong desire from independent groups to sway the race separate from the candidates themselves and their direct campaign operations. PACs are required by law to spend and operate independently from campaigns.

2024 Iowa caucuses: Top conservative spenders begin investing in Iowa, opposing Trump

Trump's super PAC is biggest Iowa spender, dumping millions into anti-DeSantis ads

The biggest spender thus far in Iowa is Make America Great Again Inc., the super PAC backing former President Donald Trump. The Republican front-runner, mounting his third campaign for the presidency, needs no help in getting his name out to Iowans.

Instead, the PAC has spent more than $20 million in advertising attacking his most prominent challenger, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. That advertising has aired across multiple states, according to FEC filings from the campaign, but the spending is assigned to Iowa because of agency guidelines on how to report multi-state spending.

The bulk of that $20 million-plus has paid for TV advertising. The PAC has cut a number of ads criticizing DeSantis' record on taxes and Social Security and Medicare (even with Trump's prior support for similar stances on those programs).

"Trump cut taxes. DeSantis tried to raise them. Ron DeSantis: wrong on tax hikes, just not ready," a narrator says in one ad from the PAC, titled "Versus." (PolitiFact has rated the claim that DeSantis tried to raise taxes as "half true." While DeSantis as a congressman supported enacting the Fair Tax Act, a 23% national sales tax, the ad does not mention that the "fair tax" would have eliminated other federal taxes.)

The MAGA super PAC has also spent more than half a million on mailers and almost $200,000 on digital advertising.

DeSantis formally joined the field late last month, but the super PAC supporting him, Never Back Down, has been operating for months and began spending in Iowa in April. The PAC has made itself known in the state by parking a bus, emblazoned with "Team DeSantis" and supporters' signatures, outside events both for DeSantis and for Trump.

In total, Never Back Down has spent just over $1 million in Iowa on a range of services. More than half of that money has gone toward printing and postage costs, and another $350,000 was spent on digital media and digital texting services.

Pro-Tim Scott PAC makes million-dollar ad buy in Iowa to start June

U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina jumped into the race in late May, having since traveled to Iowa for events. The super PAC backing him, Trust in the Mission (TIM), made a splash to start June in an effort to alert Iowans to his candidacy.

The group has already spent almost $1.8 million across Iowa and other states, entirely on media production and placement, both on television and online. It's part of a $7.25 million initial ad buy blitz that is set to run through Labor Day, Fox News reported, in Iowa and New Hampshire.

"We live in the land of opportunity, not the land of oppression," Scott says in the PAC's minute-long TV ad, titled "Believe." "And that's why I say from cotton to Congress in one lifetime. Only in America."

2024 Iowa caucuses: Tim Scott says he'll fire FBI chief but won't cut Medicare or Social Security as president

Chris Christie PAC begins contacting voters

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie entered the race Tuesday, and a PAC backing him began to invest in reaching Iowa voters.

Tell It Like It Is PAC spent just over $140,000 in total in Iowa in the first week of June. Over $100,000 of that spending was on texting and emailing; the rest was for media production and placement.

Christie, who also mounted a campaign in 2016, is the only declared presidential candidate who has yet to visit Iowa in the 2024 cycle.

PAC backing Nikki Haley spent heavily early in Iowa

SFA Fund, the super PAC supporting former South Carolina governor and U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley, spent in Iowa early and often this year.

The group has spent over $800,000 so far this cycle, much of which came in February and March, before Trump announced his reelection bid and the race began to accelerate.

SFA Fund paid for a website, online advertising, email communications and extensive text messaging in the early months of the campaign, and has since continued spending on digital advertising.

How much other Republican candidates' PACs have spent in Iowa

Several other super PACs backing other Republican hopefuls have started to spend in Iowa:

• America Strong and Free, backing former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, has spent $75,000 on door-to-door canvassing efforts and $35,000 on digital advertising.

• Opportunity Matters Fund, another PAC backing Scott, spent $120,000 on digital advertising.

• Committed to America PAC, which is backing former Vice President Mike Pence, dropped $100,000 on door-knocking.

• American Exceptionalism PAC, supporting entrepreneur and author Vivek Ramaswamy, has spent $80,000 on media placement.

Several conservative groups that have not specifically backed a candidate in the Republican primary have also begun to invest in Iowa over recent weeks.

The Republican Accountability PAC, a conservative group advocating for the GOP to move on from Trump, has dabbled in Iowa-specific digital advertising in early June. And the PACs for both Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity have spent $55,000 and $87,000, respectively, on establishing a "field program" and "message research."

Galen Bacharier covers politics for the Register. Reach him at gbacharier@registermedia.com or (573) 219-7440, and follow him on Twitter @galenbacharier.

Tim Webber is a data visualization specialist for the Register. Reach him at twebber@registermedia.com, and on Twitter at @HelloTimWebber.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Super PACs are already spending millions in Iowa on presidential race