An average House of Representatives office spent less than $4,000 for advertising in the first quarter of 2024, but six offices spent at least $76,000 apiece for advertising.
Members of the House spent $2.0 million of their office budget on advertising in the first quarter of this year, but the top six offices account for nearly one third of the spending. The top spenders for the first quarter of this year were Reps. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.), Carol Miller (R-W.Va), Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), Danny Davis (D-Ill.) and Rob Menendez (D-N.J.).
For example, Torres' office spent $85,000 on advertising through the vendor Van Ness Creative Strategies in the first quarter. That PR firm also has done work for his campaign. The firm even lists the campaign as one of its major clients. The Torres for Congress campaign spent $68,000 on the firm in the 2022 campaign cycle, with no campaign spending coming in this current cycle. In total, the Torres official office has spent $582,000 on Van Ness since 2021.
The House Ethics Manual does not place any limits on how much money can be spent from the Members' Representational Allowance on advertising. However, it does say that advertising expenses "must be frankable in content" and that the regulations issued by the House Franking Commission say that franked communications cannot be used for "mail matter which specifically solicits political support for the sender or another person or any political party."
No members need to list exactly what the purpose of an advertisement is, although the Ethics Manual cites advertising a town hall as one appropriate use. Torres has announced two town hall events since 2021.
