Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos and Democratic governor Jennifer Granholm have spent a combined total of more than $50 million on television advertisements even as ad buys continue according to research conducted by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network (MCFN). According to numbers compiled by the MCFN, DeVos for Governor has spent $27 million since it began running ads in February while Granholm for Governor has spent $7.6 million. The campaigns have also been supported by a variety of issue ads, with the Republican Governors’ Association spending $2.2 million and the Michigan Chamber of Commerce spending at least $500,000 on ads supporting DeVos, while the Michigan Democratic Central Committee has spent $11.4 million and the Coalition for Progress spending at least $1.5 million on ads supporting Granholm. In the Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo market, over $4.8 million has been spent by DeVos and $1,392,845 has been spent by Granholm.

DeVos has bankrolled much of his campaign himself, with DeVos and his wife Betsy DeVos providing $34.7 million of the campaign’s $41.2 million in contributions. Among self-funded state campaigns across the United States since 1998, DeVos ranks second this election cycle and sixth overall.