Over $7 Per Voter Spent on TV Ads for Montana Gubernatorial Candidates

The Center for Public Integrity has been tallying up the amount of money pumped into television ads across the country during statewide campaigns this election year and Montana is near the front of the pack.

"When you look at it by the number of actual eligible voters, Montana is number two this year at nearly $7.50 spent per eligible voter, just to date," said Center for Public Integrity Data Reporter Ben Wieder. "Soon, when these candidates are going to be going crazy on the air, that number is going to be going higher and higher each week."

Wieder says the money pumped into tv ads this year is dwarfing the amounts spent during the 2012 elections.

"When you look back to where we were at this point in 2012, the numbers are significantly lower," Wieder said. "We are at roughly around $148 million in estimated spending on tv ads so far this year. In 2012, that number was about $83 million, that's a significant difference."

Montana is second only to Missouri when it comes to the number of ads and the amount spent per voter. According to Wieder more than 95 percent of that spending has been on the Governor's race between Greg Gianforte and Steve Bullock.