BRIAN WITTE
Associated Press

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — A Democratic primary race between two well-funded candidates propelled Maryland to the sixth-highest amount of spending on political television ads in state-level races in the 2014 election cycle through Sept. 8.

That’s according to a state-by-state survey by the Center for Public Integrity released Wednesday.

Maryland also was noteworthy in the survey because about $14.1 million spent on state races came from funds raised by candidates or public campaign financing, instead of out-of-state interest groups.

The survey found only much larger states like Pennsylvania, Texas, Florida, Illinois and New York spent more on political television advertising.

Maryland came in third for spending on ads per voter with $3.48, behind Pennsylvania, where $3.99 per voter was spent, and Rhode Island, where $7.77 was spent.

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