HARRISBURG — The Republican candidate for attorney general and the well-funded political action committees supporting him have spent more than $13 million to flood Pennsylvania airwaves with TV ads leading up to Election Day.

Meanwhile, his Democratic opponent spent just $3.1 million on the same cause.

The race for attorney general is relatively modest, but very important. The attorney general defends Pennsylvania laws and election results, joins multistate legal battles, and prosecutes everything from political corruption to gun and drug trafficking. The powerful and highly visible position has launched previous officials — such as the now-governor. Josh Shapiro – to a higher post.

“That level of disparity in spending can be really hard to overcome, especially in a race that doesn’t have the same kind of earned media coverage as, say, a presidential race,” said Anne Wakabayashi, a Democratic political consultant who doesn’t it is. involved in the attorney general race.

Democratic candidate Eugene DePasquale served as Pennsylvania’s auditor general for eight years, giving him a statewide profile. Sunday is the York County District Attorney.

Wakabayashi says he sees the TV ad spending to support Sunday as an effort to raise his profile, calling him “a relative unknown.” DePasquale, she said, “has been in office for a long time, from the State House to statewide office. He ran real campaigns.”

The total spending of $16.7 million includes TV advertising that is scheduled to run from June 11 to November 5 and reported to the FCC. Total advertising spend, including digital promotions, is even higher.

On Sunday, he received significant support from a PAC funded largely by Pennsylvania’s richest person, GOP megadonor Jeff Yass, and a PAC associated with the Republican Attorneys General Association. Both have spent millions of dollars on ads endorsing Sunday and attacking DePasquale.

Commonwealth Leaders Fund, the PAC supported by Yass, also gave Sunday’s campaign $800,000 directly. Sunday’s campaign brought in just over $1 million in direct contributions this reporting cycle — from Sept. 17 to Oct. 21 — on top of $1.2 million in the previous cycle.

But that amount is small compared to additional in-kind contributions from the Commonwealth Leaders Fund, totaling just $10 million. Contributions in kind are expenses that are coordinated with the campaign.

Much of that in-kind spending contributed to $13.6 million in pro-Sunday or anti-DePasquale TV ads. But $38,000 also went to production, $3.3 million went to print and mail, and $700,000 went to digital advertising.

Other notable donors to Sunday’s campaign include PAC for Comcast; GOP state Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman of Indiana County; The Northeast Leadership Fund, which is chaired by a Luzerne County real estate developer; and a PAC for skill game operators.

DePasquale’s campaign is the only entity spending money on TV ads to support his candidacy. A spokesman said the campaign is also aware of additional independent digital advertising, though not the amount spent or who is funding it.

In financial reports filed last week, DePasquale reported bringing in nearly $1.8 million in the most recent reporting cycle, on top of nearly $2.2 million last cycle, plus about $100,000 in in-kind contributions. Large donations included $650,000 from the Democratic Attorneys General Association and $100,000 from Shapiro. DePasquale also saw significant contributions from unions, including the Pennsylvania chapter of the SEIU and the state carpenters union.

Few surveys have covered the attorney general race, but it indicates a close race.

Sunday has he touted his history as a prosecutor and focused his campaign on public safetysaying they plan to crack down on illegal gun possession and fentanyl sales. He claims to have a holistic view of criminal justice that includes education for certain offenders and other public services instead of prison terms.

Ads funded on his behalf by the Keystone Prosperity PAC focused more aggressively on undocumented immigrantsand they searched to link Sunday to Donald Trumpsaying they will both stop the “anarchy”.

DePasquale has pledged to protect abortion rights and claimed in advertisements that Sunday would not. In recent weeks, he has accused Sunday of letting criminals off the hook during his tenure as York’s district attorney — a similar angle to that seen in the pro-Sunday Keystone Prosperity commercials.

He has also focused his campaign on prosecuting hate crimes and says he will bring to the attorney general’s office personal family experience with addiction and the criminal justice system, as well as previous experience running a large state agency.

Spotlight PA’s Stephen Caruso and Kate Huangpu contributed reporting to this story.