With less than two weeks until Election Day, Democrats appear to be on the defensive, spending millions on ad buys in New York and New Jersey congressional districts that President Biden easily won in 2020. 

The new ad buys were made Wednesday in New Jersey’s 5th Congressional District, New York’s 3rd Congressional District, and New York’s 18th Congressional District — costing the Democrats’ House Majority PAC at least $6.3 million, according to the Washington Post. 

The three districts, chiefly in the New York City media market, all went to Biden in 2020 by at least 8 percentage points.  

In New Jersey’s fifth Congressional District, incumbent Democrat Josh Gottheimer is being challenged by Republican Frank Pallotta.

New York’s 3rd District race pits Republican George Devolder-Santos against Democrat Robert Zimmerman in the Nassau County district. It’s the first time two openly gay congressional candidates are running against each other in a general election.

Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan is squaring off against Republican Colin Schmitt in New York’s 18th Congressional District.

The Washington Post reports that the new ad spending comes on the heels of GOP super Pac Congressional Leadership Fund spending $11 million on new or expanded ad buys in 16 congressional districts, of which Biden took seven by double digits last election. 

Last week, a report in Politico noted that House Majority PAC was pleading with supporters for cash donations in an effort to shrink a growing gap in fundraising between the Democratic super Pac and its Republican rival, warning that they don’t have the  resources to contest every winnable race amid a wave of GOP spending.

House Majority PAC had $82 million in the bank at the end of September and spent $48 million during the midterms so far, compared to Congressional Leadership Fund’s $114 million in the bank and $102 million spent over the same time period.

Multiple Democratic strategists told the Washington Post that fear of losing the right to abortion is not the motivating factor in blue states that Democrats hoped it would be, and one told the outlet that there appears to be a “blue-state depression” for House races, particularly in New York, Oregon, and California, where a some of races are “closer than normal.”

Republicans need to net five seats in the House races to win a majority in the lower chamber for next year.