Reprinted with permission from DailyKos

Donald Trump's campaign is broke, and his ad spending in the first week of September took a major hit. In six key battleground states, the Trump campaign spent just under $4 million in TV and radio advertising for Sept. 1-7 while the Biden campaign posted nearly $20 million in ad spending, according to NBC News.

• Arizona: Biden $2 million, Trump $0
• Florida: Biden $5.1 million, Trump $1.9 million
• Michigan: Biden $2.6 million, Trump $0
• North Carolina: Biden $3.0 million, Trump $1.3 million
• Pennsylvania: Biden $4.7 million, Trump $0
• Wisconsin: Biden $2.2 million, Trump $670,000

Overall, according to data from Advertising Analytics, the Biden campaign dropped $24.5 million on broadcast ads Sept. 1-7 as Team Trump spent just $6.2 million. But according to NBC, Trump super PACs swooped in to narrow that spending gap to around $6 million, with Biden and pro-Biden PACs spending a total of $29.4 million to $23.3 million for Trump and pro-Trump PACs.

Still, the spending gap along with Biden's massive $364.5 million haul in August is worrisome for both Trump's reelection bid and Republicans running down-ballot. The Trump campaign still hasn't released its August fundraising totals.

"Talking to my Republican sources, it's clear that this is a problem not just for the Trump campaign, but it's a problem for the entire GOP," Washington Post reporter Robert Costa told MSNBC Tuesday.

Costa said Republican strategist are uneasy about what they view as a "lack of grassroots momentum" that's hurting fundraising across the board. In 2016, Trump used earned media from rallies and other campaign events to help make up whatever shortfalls he initially suffered in fundraising and spending. But this year, Trump isn't getting a boost from his campaign rallies due to his abysmal handling of the pandemic. What comes around goes around.

Nationwide, Trump and his PACs had outspent Biden and his PACs $124 million to $38.4 million as of Aug. 31, according to CNN. But Trump had a head start of a month, and Biden/outside groups still managed to outspend Trump/outside groups in the battleground states, $183 million to $158 million, as of Aug. 31.

Based on the September start, Biden appears poised to completely light up the airwaves as Trump goes increasingly darker by comparison.