Top GOP candidate's campaign on life support as it halts TV spending in early-vote states

The 2024 Republican presidential primary field may be dwindling even further, with one of the remaining few candidates possibly planning to exit the race in the coming weeks.

On Tuesday, NBC News reported entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has cancelled all remaining television ad spending campaigns in Iowa and New Hampshire, and has so far not bought any new TV spots as the Iowa Republican Caucuses approach on January 15. His campaign insists that the cancellation of TV ads is simply the campaign adapting to a strategy of a "hypertargeted" approach to advertising.

"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," Ramaswamy campaign press secretary Tricia McLaughlin told NBC News.

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“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 continued.

Ramaswamy — whose net worth is nearly $1 billion — committed to spending $10 million on direct mail, broadcast, cable, radio and digital advertising in Iowa and New Hampshire last month. However, NBC News reported that as of December 26, the 38-year-old investor had only spent $2.2 million in the two early nominating contests. And a pro-Ramaswamy super PAC dubbed "American Exceptionalism PAC" had not spent any money on Ramaswamy's behalf since October.

This has led to the entrepreneur's messaging getting drowned out by his rivals. In the week leading up to Christmas, the Ramaswamy campaign only spent $6,000 on TV ads. But in that same window, former President Donald Trump's campaign spent over $1 million, along with the campaign of former UN ambassador Nikki Haley. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis spent roughly $270,000, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie spent $88,000.

According to the latest polling data from RealClearPolitics, Ramaswamy is hovering at in the low single digits. He's polling in a distant 4th place in Iowa behind Trump, Haley and DeSantis with just 5.9% support, and at 5th place in the Granite State.

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