The richest Americans are once again dominating federal election spending, with the top 100 donors giving as much as all small-money donors combined.
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The cost of this year’s federal election is expected to reach nearly $16 billion, with much of that money coming from deep-pocketed donors instead of regular Americans, according to an analysis by campaign finance watchdog OpenSecrets.
“There may be a saturation point where elections can no longer get more expensive, but we haven’t reached it yet,” said Brendan Glavin, the group’s deputy research director, of this record-setting haul. “Super PACs and billionaires continue to spend more and more hoping to select our elected officials. And right now it is looking as though there isn’t a ceiling to how much an election in the US can cost.”
While the total amount this year is projected to exceed the figure from 2020, when adjusted for inflation, it is not a record.
“Spending on the 2024 election cycle started slowly but ramped up significantly when Vice President Harris took over the Democratic nomination.” said Sarah Bryner, OpenSecrets’ director of research and strategy. “While it may be true that after inflation adjustments, 2024 doesn’t exceed the 2020 records, we must also remember that 2020 itself smashed previous records. And increased spending by outside spending groups and costlier House and Senate races continue to drive the total cost of the federal election upward.”
The group’s analysis identifies plenty of troubling trends that show, once again, the rich are trying to buy themselves the government they want.
The top 5 donors this year, all of whom supported Republicans, accounted for more than $400 million in total donations, which amounts to about 5 percent of all spending.
The top 100 donors gave a total of 16 percent of all donations, which is the same amount as all small-money donors ($200 or less) contributed combined.
Finally, the top 1 percent of donors accounted for half of all federal campaign spending.
It should be noted that these figures do not include the tens of millions of dollars that right-wing billionaire Elon Musk is reportedly pouring into the race and that could make him this cycle’s top donor.
In the Democrats’ attempt to hold onto control in the Senate, the party’s candidates have raised significantly more money than their Republican counterparts in every close race. This may be due in part to the weak GOP candidates, who are generally running far behind Donald Trump in the key states.
Over in the House, the spending gap is negligible, but Democrats have raised a far higher share of their donations from small-money donors.
Finally, outside groups continue to have an outsized influence on US elections. OpenSecrets estimates that super PACs and similar groups will spend a total of $5 billion this cycle… nearly one third-of the total.
