James Cuts Into Benson’s Final-Week TV Advantage; Dems Throw A Flag

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 10/26/2026) Republican John James is receiving a significant final-week advertising boost, narrowing what had been a substantial television-spending advantage for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jocelyn Benson. However, Democrats are sounding the alarm that Republicans are not following the rules.

AdImpact reports $2.89 million in television and digital advertising supporting James is scheduled for the week beginning Oct. 27, about $731,900 less than the approximately $3.62 million reserved by Benson and Democratic groups.

The James total is more than four times the $663,688 spent supporting him during the week of Oct. 6. The late surge follows several weeks in which Democrats dominated the airwaves after the Republican Governors Association withdrew from the Michigan race.

The new Republican spending comes with a legal dispute over the Michigan Republican Party’s coordination with James’ campaign. The Michigan Democratic Party filed a campaign-finance complaint alleging the state GOP has provided at least $1.8 million in coordinated advertising, exceeding Michigan’s limit on contributions from a state party to a gubernatorial candidate.

“I think they clearly violated Section 52 of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act,” said retired elections attorney Bob LaBrant. “But the real problem is that if the complaint is resolved, we’ll be past inaugural day.”

MDP Chair Curtis Hertel Jr. said the party also sent letters to Michigan television stations asking them to remove the advertisements or charge the higher rate applied to independent political advertising.

Hertel said the arrangement allows the Michigan Republican Party to coordinate with James while purchasing airtime at the lower candidate rate. He estimated the candidate rate allows Republicans to buy roughly three times as much airtime for the same amount of money.

The Michigan Republican Party acknowledged coordinating the advertising but denied that it is violating campaign-finance law.

In an Oct. 26 letter to television stations, Republican attorneys Charlie Spies and Jonathan Koch argued a U.S. Supreme Court ruling issued in July invalidated limits on expenditures coordinated between political parties and their candidates.

The attorneys cited National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission, in which the court held that federal limits on coordinated party expenditures violated the First Amendment.

They argued Michigan’s restriction is the state equivalent of the federal limit struck down by the court and is therefore unenforceable.

“MCL 169.252 is therefore unconstitutional and infringes on the First Amendment rights of both the MRP, John James for MI, and John James,” the attorneys wrote.

The GOP attorneys also argued that coordinated party advertisements featuring James qualify for the lowest available candidate advertising rate under Federal Communications Commission guidance. Because James appears in the advertisements and authorized their use, the attorneys contend broadcasters are prohibited under federal law from censoring or rejecting them.

“A complaint is an allegation — nothing more,” they wrote, arguing television stations should not remove political advertising based on an unresolved complaint filed by an opposing party.

The attorneys also accused Democrats of hypocrisy, noting the Michigan Democratic Party is running coordinated advertising with Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed.

Hertel rejected the argument that the Supreme Court’s decision automatically invalidated Michigan’s law, saying no court has specifically struck down the state limit.

“If this was legal, this is what they’re trying to claim is now legal, it would create a completely Wild West situation where any one person could contribute unlimited dollars,” Hertel said.

The Michigan Democratic Party alleges money supporting the new advertising flowed from donors including the DeVos family and Elon Musk through Michigan Victory 2026, a Washington, D.C.-based committee, and then into the state Republican Party.

Regardless of how the legal dispute is ultimately resolved, the advertising is giving James a substantially larger presence during the campaign’s final week. Any Department of State ruling on the complaint is unlikely to come before the Nov. 3 election.