A Republican political group accidentally spent nearly $25,000 running ads to help Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in Portland.
For four days, a Republican super PAC ran its latest attack ad against Maine Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson, who is challenging incumbent Sen. Susan Collins in the November midterm elections.
The only problem was that the ad did not run in Portland, Maine. It ran in Portland, Oregon.
The Defending Main Street super PAC launched the ad, which ran last week as part of a GOP push to attack Jackson’s record on tax policy.
Portland, Maine, was the intended target of the campaign spot, according to advertising data firm AdImpact, but it appears that roughly $25,000 worth of advertising ended up on the opposite coastline.
Titled “So Many Taxes,” the ad accused Jackson of supporting policies that raised costs for Mainers, an argument that likely fell on deaf ears across the rest of the country.
Data from the Google Ads Transparency Center shows that on digital platforms such as YouTube, the ad ended up playing primarily in the Portland, Oregon, metro area — roughly 2,500 miles from the Pine Tree State.
While it is certainly true that none of the ad’s viewers are likely to cast a vote for Jackson come November, his opponent, Sen. Collins, is likely to find it difficult to reap any electoral rewards from tens of thousands of dollars spent in the West Coast market.
Collins is a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership, the conservative nonprofit parent organization of the super PAC that ran the ad.
The ad was not directly authorized by the Collins campaign, and the campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the misplaced ad.
In a statement to MS NOW, Defending Main Street confirmed the mistake and blamed the ad’s misplacement on a vendor error.
“During a recent independent expenditure, our media vendor mistakenly placed approximately $25,000 in digital advertising in the Portland, Oregon media market instead of Portland, Maine,” the super PAC told MS NOW.
“The vendor is refunding Defending Main Street the full amount of the misplaced spend. No donor funds will be lost as a result of the vendor’s error. ”
AdImpact data shows the ad did make it to some voters in the Portland, Maine, media market via broadcast linear television, hitting about 675,000 impressions between Thursday and Sunday.
By comparison, the digital ad on the opposite coast surpassed 1.5 million views Monday morning — and it cost the super PAC about twice as much.
A Republican super PAC sent at least $20,000 to Portland, Oregon, in support of Senator Susan Collins’s reelection campaign.
Collins is a senator from Maine.
This multithousand-dollar gaffe was made by the Defending Main Street Super PAC Inc, which sent a commercial calling Collins’s Democratic opponent Troy Jackson “taxin’ Troy Jackson. ”
Too bad virtually none of the people who will see it can vote in that election.
Republican Main Street Partnership President Sarah Chamberlain told NBC News Monday she was “absolutely furious” and blamed the ad buyer, Cross Screen Media, for a “ridiculous” error.
“The buyers made a mistake on one of the placements. It’s down now and they’re running it in Portland, Maine,” Chamberlain said.
“It has nothing to do with us. I would never run an ad in Portland, Oregon, for Susan Collins, for Christ’s sake. ”
Collins certainly could’ve used that money, as multiple polls have the incumbent slightly behind Jackson in the upcoming November election.
