Supreme Court Hands GOP Cheaper TV Ad Rates for Midterms

The Supreme Court blocked a lower-court ruling on Sept. 4, restoring discounted broadcast ad rates for Republican party committees weeks before the midterms.

On Sept. 4, the Supreme Court granted an emergency appeal from Republican campaign committees, halting for now a lower-court ruling that had limited discounted broadcast ad rates to candidates. The unsigned order clears a legal roadblock to political parties getting cheaper TV ad time ahead of the November midterms, with one justice publicly dissenting. According to WSGW, the order restores Federal Communications Commission guidance allowing political parties and committees to access the cheaper rates in the run-up to the elections.

The order landed just weeks before pivotal November contests and right as the lowest unit charge window opened — WSGW reports those discounted rates take effect 60 days before a general election, which for the midterms fell on Friday. It follows a June Supreme Court ruling that removed limits on party spending in coordination with candidates, a decision widely seen as a boon to the GOP because the national party holds a sizable cash advantage. Cheaper ad rates could compound that edge.

WSGW reports that the National Republican Congressional Committee has reserved $10.8 million in television ads for 23 House races this month, according to the group and AdImpact. The NRCC and National Republican Senatorial Committee told the Court they had budgeted tens of millions of dollars in ad buys at the cheaper rates, and that broadcasters were already rescinding those rates after the appeals-court ruling. The justices agreed that recissions would force the committees to pay more and hamper their outreach in the critical weeks before the election.

Under federal law, candidates pay discounted rates for TV time around an election, and in March the FCC's Media Bureau said certain party-coordinated ads are entitled to those prices as well. Four Democratic candidates — Sen. Jon Ossoff, former Sen. Sherrod Brown, Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet and Roy Cooper, per WSGW — challenged the guidance, winning a divided 2-1 ruling from the 4th Circuit that only legally qualified candidates may receive the rates. WSGW reports Judge Harvie Wilkinson dissented, saying the court moved too soon before the FCC issued a final order.

The Trump administration backed the GOP committees, with Solicitor General D. John Sauer arguing the FCC notice offers the same benefit to all sides. Democrats countered that extending the rates to parties and joint fundraising committees would dilute their access and force them to raise and spend more. WSGW reports Cooper's Senate campaign in North Carolina blasted the ruling, saying it gave a massive TV ad discount to big-money donors and would benefit an RNC war chest it pegged at $130 million.

The decision halts the appeals-court ruling while the Republican committees file a fuller appeal. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, writing that the Court likely did not have to wait until an internal FCC review was finished. The order lands on a Court already saturated with election-related emergency appeals ahead of November — ABC News notes pending fights over mail-in ballot rules the administration has appealed to the justices, among other docket items.