Election spending is set to hit nearly $16 billion this cycle
Surprise, surprise, politics is really expensive now too
More dollars are pouring into the 2024 election cycle than any other in American history. With only weeks left until election day, OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan nonprofit that tracks money in politics, estimates that total spending in this cycle will hit $15.9 billion, surpassing (in nominal terms) the ~$15 billion record from 4 years ago.
Outside spending alone is expected to exceed $5 billion, thanks to spending by the so-called super PACs, or political action committees, that can accept unlimited contributions from donors as long as they don’t coordinate with candidates. Indeed, 2024 has already seen a record $2.6 billion of outside spending — a billion dollars more compared to 2020.
Having said that, when you adjust for inflation — a practice which over the last few years has become frustratingly relevant — 2020 would hold onto its record. That’s thanks in part to the huge campaign from former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, who blew about $1 billion of his money in just a few months.
It’s no surprise that the two candidates for the White House are raising, and deploying, every single dollar they can get their hands on given how tight the polling data is. But it’s not just the presidential race where the cash is sloshing around. Running for any office has become increasingly costly since the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which allowed unlimited spending in federal elections and opened the door to super PACs. The 800+ candidates running for Congress across both of the Republican and Democratic parties have raised nearly $1.4 million each on average, per OpenSecrets.
