eMedia Monitor finds Senate battlegrounds are playing out differently in local TV and radio

eMedia Monitor says its real-time monitoring of 2026 midterm coverage across U.S. media markets shows Senate races are being shaped by distinct local narratives, not one national storyline. The findings highlight sharp gaps between what voters hear in paid ads and what drives editorial coverage, with local radio still a major part of how political messages reach voters.

Why it matters: - eMedia Monitor’s data suggests campaigns are not competing on one shared national narrative in the 2026 Senate fights. - The gap between paid ads and earned media means campaigns may be winning airtime without shaping the news agenda, or vice versa. - Local broadcast coverage still matters because AM/FM radio remains a dominant ad-supported audio channel for registered voters.

What happened: - eMedia Monitor released new findings from its ongoing 2026 midterms monitoring program on Sept. 23, 2026. - The analysis draws on real-time coverage across all 210 U.S. media markets and the company’s AI speech analysis engines. - The research focuses on the 10 most competitive of the 35 Senate seats up for election in November. - The study compares editorial themes against paid spots across 254 state-market stations and 23 national channels.

The details: - In North Carolina, 54% of editorial coverage focused on campaign operations, driven by fact-checking of a disputed ad in the Whatley-Cooper race. - North Carolina’s largest paid spot attacked Whatley, a Republican, over a hiring scandal, which differed from the main news coverage. - In New Hampshire, 52% of editorial coverage focused on polls and horse-race coverage, driven by primary night results for Pappas, a Democrat, and Sununu, a Republican. - New Hampshire paid TV was dominated by Pappas, while Sununu logged just 10 detected airings. - In Alaska, 46% of editorial coverage centered on election process stories, driven by a ballot mix-up involving two unrelated candidates named Dan Sullivan. - Alaska paid TV featured only Peltola, a Democrat, and that ad message did not match the top news theme. - In Georgia, the two leading editorial themes were campaign-trail coverage at 35% and controversy over Mike Collins’ alleged blogger ties at 33%. - Georgia’s largest paid spots attacked Collins over healthcare, Social Security and insurance policy. - In Ohio, the leading editorial themes were controversy over an NRSC ad using real crash footage at 31% and campaign-trail and fundraising coverage at 23%. - Ohio’s largest paid spot in the study was a corruption-themed attack tying Husted, a Republican, to the FirstEnergy bribery scandal, and it ran 2,661 times. - Across the full study, paid advertising was led by corruption and ethics at 25% and healthcare at 22%. - Across the full study, editorial coverage was led by campaign operations at 32% and polls and horse-race coverage at 18%. - National cable coverage flattened the races into the same three themes: campaign operations, candidate controversy and polls.

Between the lines: - The results show a recurring mismatch between what campaigns are paying to emphasize and what local journalists are actually covering. - The findings also suggest national media can obscure state-by-state differences that are clearer in local broadcast markets. - eMedia Monitor pointed to a March 2026 Edison Research Share of Ear study showing AM/FM radio captures 64% of ad-supported audio listening among registered voters. - That study said the share was 65% among Republicans, 64% among Democrats and 62% among Independents. - Larry Thomas, vice president for the Americas at eMedia Monitor, said most of the story is happening outside national channels. - Thomas said the company’s role is to turn local coverage into data as soon as it airs so campaign teams and AI platforms can see the market-by-market picture. - eMedia Monitor said its U.S. footprint spans local network affiliates, talk radio and independent podcasts in English and Spanish. - The company said every clip is transcribed, tagged and scored for sentiment in real time. - eMedia Monitor said that structured data feeds into large language models and analytics platforms used by newsrooms, campaigns and brands. - The company said its U.S. build-out over the past year made the scale and speed of the monitoring possible.

What’s next: - eMedia Monitor is offering the report and additional information through its contact form, with requests to include the phrase “midterms.” - The company’s continuing monitoring program is set up to keep tracking how Senate race narratives shift across local and national media markets. - Campaigns, newsrooms and brands are likely to keep using the data to compare paid messaging with earned coverage as the election cycle advances.

The bottom line: - The midterms are not being covered as one national race; they are being fought as a set of local media battles with different storylines, different ad strategies and different audience dynamics.