Do not adjust your television, there is an election going on — even if you don’t see your airwaves flooded by television advertising the way they've been in recent years.
Republican congressional candidate Tom Garrett is buying time on General Hospital and Rachel Ray. His opponent, Democrat Jane Dittmar, is buying time on the Tonight Show and Late Night. That race, for the seat being vacated by retiring Republican Robert Hurt, is attracting the most TV ad time this year. Stephen Farnsworth at the University of Mary Washington says that’s nothing compared to 2008 and 2012.
“And so what you have during the last two election cycles I think really created kind of a harvest time for television networks. Lots of money coming in and they just had to rake it up."
Hillary Clinton hasn’t been on the air in Virginia since August. And Robert Denton at Virginia Tech says Trump is being careful about where he’s buying television time.
“The Trump campaign is trying to be very strategic if they think they can keep Virginia in play then it would primary be in Southside or the Roanoke market."
So far, Trump is buying time on Monday night football and college gameday, mainly in Southside but also in Richmond and Charlottesville.
