Latest 2026 Midterm Campaign Ads in the Final Week

With Election Day on Nov. 3, campaigns and outside groups are spending their final dollars on closing messages, last-minute attacks, and a few spots built mainly to go viral. This post collects eight ads released or first reported between Oct. 20 and Oct. 27, four aimed at helping Republicans and four aimed at helping Democrats. It follows three earlier roundups: notable Republican midterm ads, notable Democratic midterm ads, and more ads from both sides. None of the ads in those posts is repeated here.

The volume is unusual. Erik Franklin Fowler of the Wesleyan Media Project told PBS NewsHour that 2026 is “a record-breaking year for political advertising.” The same report cited Wesleyan’s count of 220 AI-made ads this cycle, about 81 percent of them from Republicans or their allies. The reactions described below show how each ad landed with supporters, opponents, and reporters. They are not a measure of whether any ad will change votes.

1. Susan Collins: Bill Green on Troy Jackson

Maine U.S. Senate | Republican | Collins campaign

The ad: Bill Green, a longtime Maine television personality, speaks to the camera in a 30-second closing spot. He calls Collins one of the most decent and honest people he knows and laments how far Maine politics has sunk. He then turns to Democrat Troy Jackson, a former logger who served as president of the Maine Senate, saying Jackson lacks the tools to be effective in Washington. The line that drew the most attention was Green’s remark, reported by Newsweek, that “we’re not talking about buying a cord of wood here.”

The reaction: Critics, including a former Collins staffer and the Maine AFL-CIO, read the line as a dig at Jackson’s working-class background in a state where logging is central to the economy. Jackson answered in a video on X, calling Collins “a little out of touch” and tying firewood to Mainers’ heating costs. This article could not locate a Collins campaign response to the criticism or confirm the ad’s exact release date; it drew wide coverage on Oct. 27. Jackson’s own closing ad, released the same week, frames the race as a choice between billionaires and Trump on one side and working Mainers on the other.

Bill Green’s latest ad for Susan Collins made my jaw drop.

A pathetic end to both of their careers. Mainers will reject these despicable attacks next Tuesday. https://t.co/krSXDRYbkE

— Jordan Wood (@JordanWood) October 27, 2026

Sources: Newsweek; Raw Story

2. James Talarico: Crystal Mason

Texas U.S. Senate | Democratic | Talarico campaign

The ad: Crystal Mason, a Texas woman convicted of illegal voting in 2018 and later acquitted on appeal, describes casting a provisional ballot in 2016 while on federal supervised release, not knowing that made her ineligible. She faced five years in prison. Talarico then tells viewers Mason was sentenced “because of Ken Paxton’s crackdown on voters of color.”

The reaction: The ad was first reported on Oct. 26 by Democracy Docket, a Democratic-aligned outlet whose founder’s law firm represents the Talarico campaign. This article could not locate a response from the Paxton campaign.

Fact-check: Mason’s acquittal is accurate and final. An appeals court overturned her conviction in March 2024, and Texas’s highest criminal court dismissed the state’s challenge in September 2026. The ad’s framing is more contested. Mason was prosecuted by the Tarrant County district attorney, not the attorney general’s office. Linking her case to Paxton is the campaign’s characterization of the broader climate around election prosecutions in Texas, an opinion rather than a checkable claim about who brought the charges.

If the video does not load, watch it on Facebook.

Sources: Democracy Docket; Wikipedia case summary

3. NRSC: The AI boy band

Maine U.S. Senate | Republican | National Republican Senatorial Committee

The ad: Released Oct. 27, this digital ad features a fictional boy band generated partly with artificial intelligence, which the NRSC disclosed. The band sings that Jackson took money from billionaires, corporate PACs, and tobacco, pharmaceutical, and gambling interests after saying in a debate that no billionaires were funding him. NRSC spokesperson Samantha Cantrell said in the release announcing it that “Troy Jackson is a hypocrite.”

The reaction: Coverage so far has come mainly from Newsmax. This article could not locate a Jackson campaign response to this specific ad.

Fact-check: The underlying episode is real. Jackson said during a debate that no billionaires were funding him, and his third-quarter report, filed days later, showed maximum donations from at least four billionaires, according to WGME. The ad’s figure of 28 billionaires is disputed: the NRSC did not identify them, and this article could not verify it. The corporate PAC claim also conflicts with the Jackson campaign’s statement that it accepts no corporate PAC money; the NRSC did not itemize the contributions it was counting.

Sources: Newsmax via Yahoo News; NRSC

4. Kathy Hochul: Three closing ads on Bruce Blakeman

New York Governor | Democratic | Hochul campaign

The ads: Gov. Kathy Hochul’s campaign began airing three spots on Oct. 27 as part of a multimillion-dollar final push. One accuses Republican Bruce Blakeman of backing Medicaid cuts, using a clip of him pledging to stand with President Trump. A second attacks Blakeman’s Nassau County volunteer deputy program, calling it a militia. A third claims he supports legislation that would raise insurance premiums by 40 percent. All three end with the same line: Blakeman will “always put Trump ahead of you.”

The reaction: The Blakeman campaign did not immediately respond, according to amNewYork. Blakeman spent the day campaigning against Hochul on congestion pricing and taxes.

Fact-check: The Medicaid claim is contested. Blakeman denied in a debate that he had proposed a Medicaid cut, though amNewYork reports he said he would cut it during an earlier Fox Business appearance. The 40 percent premium figure is close to the Hochul administration’s own estimate of an average 38 percent increase, but that estimate applies to roughly 140,000 New Yorkers who lost enhanced federal subsidies, not to all insured residents.

Sources: amNewYork

5. Senate Leadership Fund: Victims’ families in Michigan

Michigan U.S. Senate | Republican | Senate Leadership Fund (super PAC)

The ad: The leading Republican Senate super PAC has spent at least $3.7 million on a Michigan ad that names Nicole VanNoty, a 5-year-old raped and murdered in 1994, and her killer, as part of its campaign against Democrat Abdul El-Sayed. It has spent about $2 million more on ads about a second Michigan case. A CNN review of AdImpact data, published Oct. 22, found the group had spent at least $17 million on Michigan and North Carolina ads naming crime victims or perpetrators.

The reaction: VanNoty’s mother, Robin Buonodono, told CNN the group never contacted her. She asked, “Why are you using someone’s child’s death for political gain?” Relatives in at least three cases said they had no warning. A Senate Leadership Fund spokesman responded with a general statement that preventable violent crime is an intolerable tragedy, without addressing the families’ objections directly.

Note: This article could not locate a full transcript of the Michigan ad, confirm its first air date, or confirm exactly how it connects the case to El-Sayed. The original CNN report could not be accessed directly; details here rely on Raw Story’s account of it.

Sources: Raw Story, summarizing CNN; CNN

6. Senate Majority PAC: A senator who gets nothing done

Mississippi U.S. Senate | Democratic | Senate Majority PAC (super PAC)

The ad: The main Democratic Senate super PAC made its first move into Mississippi with a $1.2 million TV and digital buy starting Oct. 21. The ad promotes Scott Colom’s record as a district attorney and casts Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith as a senator who gets nothing done, with a narrator saying she “hasn’t passed one piece of legislation” in a decade but voted to remove people from Medicaid.

The reaction: Reporters read the buy as a sign of Democratic optimism spreading into the Deep South. Hyde-Smith’s campaign manager, Jake Monssen, said the money came late and predicted voters would “reject this radical agenda.”

Fact-check: This article could not verify the claim that Hyde-Smith has passed no legislation; the outcome depends on how authorship of enacted bills is counted. The Medicaid claim refers to her vote for the 2025 tax and spending law, which the Senate passed 51-50. Collins, Tillis, and Paul were the only Republicans voting no, and the Congressional Budget Office estimated 11.8 million more uninsured Americans by 2034. Supporters of the law argue its work requirements target able-bodied adults rather than removing eligible people.

Sources: Mississippi Free Press; Associated Press via WCAX

7. Tom Tiffany: Tolls and taxes

Wisconsin Governor | Republican | Tiffany campaign

The ad: Rep. Tom Tiffany’s newest spot seizes on Democrat David Crowley’s debate answer expressing openness to highway tolling. A narrator says Crowley would raise income, property, and sales taxes, and the ad closes by telling voters they cannot afford him. A separate ad from the Republican Governors Association’s Wisconsin affiliate accuses Crowley of steering millions to his wife’s employer.

The reaction: The ad launched in the final week, with Tiffany and his allies holding $12.3 million in reservations for the last two weeks compared with $9.3 million for Crowley’s side, according to WisPolitics’ reading of AdImpact data. This article could not locate a Crowley campaign response to the tolling or wife’s-employer claims.

Fact-check: A September Daily Cardinal fact-check rated an earlier claim that Crowley raised property and sales taxes as true, citing his role as Milwaukee County executive. This article could not verify the income tax claim or the RGA’s claim about his wife’s employer.

Sources: WisPolitics

8. David Crowley: “Sold out Wisconsin”

Wisconsin Governor | Democratic | Crowley campaign

The ad: In a spot that began running Oct. 23, Crowley talks to the camera while driving, saying families are getting less even when they earn more. He says Tiffany voted with Trump all the time and opposed releasing the Epstein files, then closes: “Tom Tiffany sold out Wisconsin. I’ll make it more affordable.” A Democratic-aligned group, the Wisconsin Ideas Project, added several digital spots the same week tying Tiffany to Trump on tariffs, health care costs, and the Iran war.

The reaction: This article could not locate a Tiffany campaign response to the ad.

Fact-check: The Epstein claim needs context. When the House passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November 2025, the vote was 427-1, with Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana the only no vote. The ad’s claim therefore appears to rest on earlier procedural votes or Tiffany’s broader record, which this article could not confirm. The “100 percent” voting figure is unsourced in the reporting reviewed here.

Watch the video: AdImpact viewer