Why one spoiler candidate is now trying to replicate his work nationwide

Aaron Day's third-party campaign, which cost Republican Kelly Ayotte her Senate reelection bid in 2016, is now expanding its efforts to cost Republicans the Senate nationwide. With several Senate races tight enough that an alternate candidate could make a real difference, Day is looking to spend up to $2.5 million to disrupt GOP candidates in eight states: Texas, Iowa, New Hampshire, Minnesota, South Carolina, Michigan, Ohio, and Kansas.

Day's strategy involves using his Stark Freedom PAC to spend relatively small amounts on AI-generated online ads to boost the name ID of third-party candidates, aiming to hand those races to the Democrats. While Republican leaders are skeptical of Day's efforts, he remains open about his goal of holding Republicans accountable. Day has targeted these states based on his belief that boosting third-party candidates would hurt the Republican nominee by a couple of percentage points.

His approach is based on the "Moneyball" theory of modern politics, where a relatively small amount of cash can mess up the margins in close contests. Day's ads are unique to each race but generally feature peppy AI music criticizing the GOP candidate while boosting the third-party candidate. Despite the skepticism of Republican leaders, Day believes his model could be replicated to hold both major parties accountable in the future.