--- title: Donald Trump Plans to Ramp Up Campaign Spending description: Donald Trump says he's about to "spend big" in key states, likely part of an upcoming ad blitz his campaign has planned. canonical: https://time.com/4163056/donald-trump-campaign-money-ads/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-29T14:46:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:46.512Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Plans to Ramp Up Campaign Spending og:description: He may put out his first political ads. og:url: https://time.com/4163056/donald-trump-campaign-money-ads/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1ffbff3a6b6d226f/698876fae20a873ee8a8ed38/donald-trump-plane.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to the crowd as he arrives at a campaign event at the International Air Response facility on December 16, 2015 in Mesa, Arizona. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Plans to Ramp Up Campaign Spending twitter:description: He may put out his first political ads. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1ffbff3a6b6d226f/698876fae20a873ee8a8ed38/donald-trump-plane.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Plans to Ramp Up Campaign Spending > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Dec 29, 2015 2:46 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to the crowd as he arrives at a campaign event at the International Air Response facility on December 16, 2015 in Mesa, Arizona. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to the crowd as he arrives at a campaign event at the International Air Response facility on December 16, 2015 in Mesa, Arizona. Ralph Freso—Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Dec 29, 2015 2:46 PM UTC Donald Trump often brags about not spending any money on campaign ads, but that is about to change. [According to a report by Fox News](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/12/28/trump-plots-big-tv-ad-blitz-that-could-change-campaign-landscape.html), Trump’s campaign is planning an ad blitz that could cost more than $2 million a week. The money for the ad buy will come out of Trump’s own fortune: “Our Super PAC is Donald Trump’s bank account,” an unnamed adviser told Fox. The business mogul seemed to confirm the report Tuesday, tweeting that he is going to “spend big” in key states: > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/681845591027134464) He then snuck in a jab at rival Jeb Bush, whose super PAC has far outspent the other candidates: > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/681847012304797696) According to Fox, the ads will focus on Trump’s position on key issues, since most viewers will already be familiar with his personal background. **Read More:** [_Here’s How Much Free Publicity Donald Trump Gets_](http://time.com/4147550/donald-trump-free-media-television/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4163056/donald-trump-campaign-money-ads/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4163056/donald-trump-campaign-money-ads/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Plans to Ramp Up Campaign Spending","datePublished":"2015-12-29T14:46:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:46.512Z","description":"Donald Trump says he's about to \"spend big\" in key states, likely part of an upcoming ad blitz his campaign has planned.","url":"https://time.com/4163056/donald-trump-campaign-money-ads/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1ffbff3a6b6d226f/698876fae20a873ee8a8ed38/donald-trump-plane.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1ffbff3a6b6d226f/698876fae20a873ee8a8ed38/donald-trump-plane.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to the crowd as he arrives at a campaign event at the International Air Response facility on December 16, 2015 in Mesa, Arizona.","caption":"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to the crowd as he arrives at a campaign event at the International Air Response facility on December 16, 2015 in Mesa, Arizona.","creditText":"Ralph Freso—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4163056/donald-trump-campaign-money-ads/","name":"Donald Trump Plans to Ramp Up Campaign Spending"}}]}] ```