Senate candidates continue to spend on airtime - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Tonight's debate is the last time voters will be able to see Indiana's candidates for U.S. Senate side by side, but it won't be the last time you hear from them.

Both sides have invested millions of dollars to get your vote and there is still two weeks until Election Day.

It is hard to get away from these days. If you turn on the television, they are going to be there and most of the time, they are political commercials for the race for Senate.

Since the primary, Republican Richard Mourdock has dropped $2.5 million. Democrat Joe Donnelly has spent $2.3 million. With the commercials sponsored by third parties, those numbers jump to just under $7 million for Donnelly and just under $9 million for Mourdock.

"We have seen an awful lot of groups spend millions and millions of dollars trying to buy a United States Senate seat and Hoosiers have said this seat does not belong to Karl Rove or some other group," Donnelly said.

The Mourdock campaign released the following statement:

"It is ironic that Joe Donnelly decries outside groups spending money in the U.S. Senate race, yet the DSCC and Harry Reid's Majority Super PAC have spent millions to benefit his campaign," the statement read.

With only two weeks to go, spending is continuing to escalate. In fact, Democratic groups have booked over $1.6 million in Indiana airtime for the final weeks of the Senate race.

While $16 million seems like a lot for one Senate seat and it is. It pales in comparison to races in Massachusetts and Texas, which have spent $52 million and $42 million, respectively. Indiana doesn't even make the top ten most expensive Senate races, according to OpenSecrets.org.