The Democrat-aligned House Majority PAC is reserving roughly $21 million worth of TV ad buys across New York ahead of the November elections. 

The move comes as the Empire State could be make or break for Democrats in their push to win back control of the U.S. House. Losses in congressional districts across New York in 2022 helped cost the party the majority.

Mike Smith, the president of HMP, tells Spectrum News NY1 they are laying the “marker down very early” with these ad reservations, which he says are focused on “offensive districts” and “hyper-focused on communicating with AAPI, Latino, and Black voters.”

New York is home to five competitive congressional seats currently held by Republicans, including two on Long Island, two in the Hudson Valley, and one in the Syracuse area. 

Broken down by television market, the ad reservations include $1.19 million in Albany, $880,000 in Binghamton, $16.12 million in New York City, $2.78 million in Syracuse and $376,000 in Utica. 

The announcement is part of HMP’s overall $186 million ad reservation nationwide, which the PAC says is the largest in their history.

HMP’s Republican counterpart, the Congressional Leadership Fund, is expected to announce their own ad reservation in the coming weeks.

In a statement, the CLF’s communications director Courtney Parella expressed confidence about their chances in New York.

“Swing voters in blue states are fed up,” she said. “We’ve been able to do so well in New York over the last couple of cycles because these voters are seeing the damaging effects of one-party Democratic rule.”

Last year, following the dramatic Democratic losses in New York, HMP launched a “war room” in the state focused on flipping GOP-held seats, pledging a $45 million fund to help candidates. Smith said this ad buy is part of that effort.

The ad reservation comes two months after Democrats flipped New York’s 3rd Congressional District in a closely watched special election to replace ousted Congressman George Santos. 

Smith said that the special election offered lessons that can be replicated across the state, including the need to put a plan in place early and get out front on messaging on issues, such as the economy, abortion and immigration.

“We put together a robust field operation, knocked on nearly 500,000 doors in a six-week time period,” he said. “We're gonna see all that replicated. And that's part of this huge buy coming in now.”