It’s a common sentiment that radio never gets its fair share of political advertising, but with 2026 political ad volume projected to grow roughly 20% over the 2022 midterm cycle, and nearly all of that money placed locally, AM/FM can still cash in on the season.
Steve Passwaiter, President of Washington DC-based Silver Oak Political, joined SalesFuel CEO C. Lee Smith for a Leveraging AdMall webinar focused on how radio sellers can compete more effectively as political spending accelerates toward the 2026 midterms.
Passwaiter made a direct case for broadcast audio. “There is a need to reach that 50-plus voter because those are the people who tend to turn out more for midterms,” and older demographics continue to over-index on linear media.
Data backs the case. The latest Edison Research Share of Ear figures show AM/FM radio commanding 64% of all ad-supported audio time among registered voters 18-plus in 2025, more than Spotify, Pandora, SiriusXM, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music combined. Podcasts are the next closest competitor at 21%. The numbers hold steady across party lines: 65% of ad-supported audio time among Republicans, 64% among Democrats, 62% among Independents.
Smith and Passwaiter both urged sellers to expand their focus beyond high-profile congressional races. Even with local races being increasingly managed by large DC agencies, that dynamic shifts further down the ballot. State Supreme Court seats, legislative races, and issue-based campaigns are drawing unprecedented money, and the decision-makers behind them are often far more accessible than those running national campaigns.
Passwaiter cited a Wisconsin Supreme Court race that generated over $40 million in first-quarter spending and an Ohio special election on reproductive rights that drove significant ad volume in the middle of summer. “Competition brings attention,” he commented. “Tightness in elections brings money.”
With primary season already underway, Passwaiter was direct about the window closing on new relationships for this cycle: “Right now, people here in Washington are already heads down,” he said. “I’m hearing from people that they’re not really interested in listening to new offers at this point of the cycle.”
His advice: use an off-year to meet with local party officials, sponsor candidate debates, and become part of the civic process. Sellers who arrive as known quantities when election-year budgets open are in a fundamentally different position than those cold-calling in the fall.
On the question of what loses political business fastest, Passwaiter was blunt. He described reviewing hundreds of emails daily with one finger on the delete button, dismissing anything generic or poorly researched. “If you don’t do your homework, I don’t know how you succeed in any business, but particularly in advertising,” he stated. For radio sellers, that homework means knowing what’s on the ballot in your market, identifying decision-makers through FEC filings and Secretary of State records, and arriving with audience data that’s specific to a candidate’s actual geography.
