Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign confirmed Tuesday it halted television ad spending in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Both the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary will take place in January.

“Ramaswamy’s campaign says it is still spending money on ads, just not on TV,” NBC News reports.

“Presidential TV ad spending is idiotic, low-ROI & a trick that political consultants use to bamboozle candidates who suffer from low IQ. We’re doing it differently. Spending $$ in a way that follows data…apparently a crazy idea in US politics. Big surprise coming on Jan 15,” Ramaswamy said Tuesday.

“We are focused on bringing out the voters we’ve identified — best way to reach them is using addressable advertising, mail, text, live calls and doors to communicate with our voters on Vivek’s vision for America, making their plan to caucus and turning them out,” campaign press secretary Tricia McLaughlin told NBC News.

“As you know, this isn’t what most campaigns look like. We have intentionally structured this way so that we have the ability to be nimble and hypertargeted in our ad spending,” she added.

From NBC News:

The shift in strategy comes less than a month before the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses — the first contest in the GOP presidential nominating process — and the Jan. 23 New Hampshire primary.

In early November, Ramaswamy’s campaign announced that it planned to spend over $10 million on ads — broadcast, cable, radio, digital and direct mail — in Iowa and New Hampshire. Since that announcement, the campaign has spent $2.2 million on TV, digital and radio ads, according to AdImpact.

Ramaswamy’s rivals — former President Donald Trump, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — are still buying up ads on the U.S. airwaves. In the same week that Ramaswamy spent just $6,000 on TV ads, Trump’s campaign spent $1.1 million, followed by Haley’s $1 million, DeSantis’ $270,000 and Christie’s $88,000.

That’s in addition to the ad money being spent by the super PACs backing Ramaswamy’s opponents.

SFA Fund Inc., a group backing Haley, spent $4.8 million on all ads last week. Fight Right, a group backing DeSantis, spent $1.3 million, followed by MAGA Inc.’s $987,000 and almost $700,000 by Tell It Like It Is PAC, which supports Christie.

“He will, I am sure, Endorse me. But Vivek is a good man, and is not done yet!” Donald Trump commented on Truth Social.

 

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