MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Democrats plan to spend $7 million on television ads in five state Senate races they believe are key to regaining control of the chamber, the biggest ad buy of its kind Democrats in the state have ever made in legislative races.

Wisconsin, a perennial swing state, is no stranger to big spending on high profile races. But the money typically goes to top of the ticket statewide races, not contests for the Legislature where Republicans have held a strong majority for more than a decade.

For example, this one ad buy is nearly half of the money Democrats spent in the 2022 cycle on all legislative races in both the Senate and Assembly. That year, legislative candidates and outside groups spent a total of just over $41 million on legislative races, $17 million of that coming from Democrats, according to a tally by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.