According to a top watchdog group, the 2024 election cycle is on pace to be the second most expensive event in U.S. political history.
On Oct. 8, OpenSecrets, a nonprofit organization dedicated to covering the role of money in politics, issued a report estimating that more than $15.9 billion will be spent on the year’s federal elections.
Dollar for dollar, that is more money than the $15.1 billion that was spent on the 2020 elections. However, the 2020 amount rises to $18.3 billion in 2024 dollars when adjusted for inflation.
The report said a significant amount of the overall spending, about $5 billion, will have come from outside sources such as political action committees. That amount would far exceed the previous record.
”Super PACs and billionaires continue to spend more and more hoping to select our elected officials,“ OpenSecrets Deputy Research Director Brendan Glavin said in a statement. ”Right now, it is looking as though there isn’t a ceiling to how much an election in the U.S. can cost.”
The total amount of spending in 2020 was elevated, the report said, because of the competitive Democratic Party presidential primaries. Ahead of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden beating out a large field of Democratic rivals, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Galvanize Climate Solutions Co-Executive Chair Tom Steyer together poured $1.4 billion into their candidacies.
The two main political parties in the United States and the principal campaign committees boosting the Democratic and Republican nominees are on track to have raised—and likely have spent—about $1.5 billion on the race between July and Election Day.
For most of the 2024 presidential cycle, Biden was the presumptive nominee. After facing enormous pressure from his party, he withdrew from the race in July, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to run in his place.
Former President Donald Trump, while facing legal troubles in numerous jurisdictions, won the Republican primaries and is seeking a second, nonconsecutive term in the Oval Office.
According to Open Secrets, the Democratic National Committee and the campaign committee supporting first Biden and then Harris have outraised the Republican National Committee and Trump’s campaign committee.
Since July, the Democrats have raised about $1 billion. During the same period, the Republicans took in about $430 million.
Behind the parties and the campaigns, outside groups are spending the most on the election. As of the beginning of October, OpenSecrets calculated that super PACs and hybrid PACs had spent about $2.6 billion on federal elections.
The two PACs spending the most money—Make America Great Again Inc. and Future Forward—are focused on the presidential campaign. MAGA Inc. has spent more than $239 million to support Trump, while Future Forward has used more than $212 million to back Biden and Harris.
Most of the money spent on federal elections comes from the largest political donors.
“The top 1 percent of all donors account for a full 50 percent of all money raised,” the report said. “In contrast, all donors giving under $200 account for just 16 percent of all money raised.”
