ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A new study confirms what anyone watching television in Kansas recently probably knows: political ads in the hotly contested race between Republican incumbent Gov. Sam Brownback and Democratic challenger Paul Davis are flooding the airwaves.

Spending by campaigns and political groups is about seven times more this election than in 2010, when Republicans easily swept all statewide offices in Kansas, according to a report released Wednesday.

The non-partisan Center for Public Integrity estimates $2.2 million has been spent on television ads for statewide offices — or about $1.11 per eligible Kansas voter — so far this election cycle. The center counted a total of 8,967 ads, many of them repeats of the same ad. The governor’s race alone has consumed $2.1 million of that spending.