Jonah Patel
Political campaigns in the United States have become increasingly expensive, with billions of dollars being spent on House and Senate races. In the 2024 election cycle, US political campaigns collected around $8.6 billion for the House, Senate, and presidential elections. This includes money from political action committees (PACs), individual candidates, and party committees. While there are limits on direct donations to candidates, PACs, and political parties, the creation of Super PACs has allowed for a surge in spending, with billionaires pouring 160 times more funds into campaigns since the Citizens United v FEC ruling in 2010. This has led to concerns about the influence of the wealthy and corporations in politics.
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What You'll Learn
Spending by political action committees (PACs)
Political action committees (PACs) are tax-exempt 527 organizations that pool campaign contributions from members and donate those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. They are typically formed to represent business, labour, or ideological interests. PACs are established by businesses, non-profits, labour unions, trade groups, or health organizations. They can also be established by individuals who wish to privately raise money to donate to a political campaign.
There are two types of PACs: connected and non-connected. Connected PACs are established by the aforementioned entities, while non-connected PACs are formed by groups with an ideological mission, single-issue groups, and members of Congress and other political leaders. Non-connected committees are not sponsored by a specific entity or organization, so they can accept contributions from the general public.
A third classification, independent expenditure-only committees, are colloquially known as "super PACs". Super PACs can receive unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, labor unions, and other PACs. They are, however, not allowed to coordinate with or contribute directly to candidate campaigns or political parties. A hybrid PAC can act as both a PAC and a Super PAC but must maintain separate bank accounts for their Super PAC and normal PAC activities.
Leadership PACs are a type of PAC that is directly or indirectly established, financed, maintained, or controlled by a candidate or an individual holding federal office. They are not authorized committees of the candidate or officeholder and are not affiliated with an authorized committee of a candidate or officeholder. Leadership PACs can contribute up to $5,000 per election to a federal candidate committee.
In the 2021-2022 election cycle, PACs raised $5.5 billion and spent $4.6 billion. During the same period, PAC contributions to Senate and House candidates totaled $50.0 million and $239.3 million, respectively.
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Spending by individual candidates
For example, during the 2021-2022 election cycle, Senate and House candidates received a total of $50 million and $239.3 million, respectively, from PACs. In contrast, during the 2023-2024 election cycle, PAC contributions to Senate and House candidates totaled $28.4 million and $176.1 million, respectively. These numbers indicate that candidates are increasingly relying on PAC money to fund their campaigns.
In the 2024 election cycle, individual candidates have drawn over $2 billion, with Senate candidates spending $613,483,538 and House candidates spending $705,893,338 as of May 9, 2024. This represents a significant increase in fundraising compared to the 2020 election cycle, where campaigns raised a total of $9 billion between January 2019 and April 2020 (approximately $10.6 billion when adjusted for inflation).
It is worth noting that these numbers do not include all the money spent on political campaigns, as they only reflect reported expenditures. There are also dark money groups that spend millions of dollars on elections without revealing the source of their funds.
Additionally, it is important to consider that fundraising has become a significant time commitment for candidates, with members of Congress spending a considerable amount of time raising campaign funds. This diversion of time and resources has been criticized as it takes away from lawmakers' legislative and oversight responsibilities.
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Spending by party committees
Political party committees play a significant role in financing election campaigns, and this is no different for the 2024 election cycle. Between January 2023 and April 2024, party committees raised just over $929.9 million for the US House, Senate, and presidential elections. This includes money raised by the Democratic National Committee ($188.6 million) and the Republican National Committee ($130.1 million), as well as funds from local, state, and national party committees.
During the same period, individual candidates for the 2024 elections drew over $2 billion, while political action committees (PACs) contributed approximately $5.6 billion, making them the largest source of funding for the 2024 election campaigns.
Looking at the breakdown of party committee funds, the Democratic Party committees received $212.3 million from individuals, while their Republican counterparts received $179.2 million. PACs and other political committees contributed $35.8 million to Democratic committees and $33.1 million to Republican committees as of December 31, 2023.
The impact of these funds can be seen in the spending by House and Senate candidates. For the 2024 House races, candidates have spent a total of $705,893,338, with Republicans at $379.7 million and Democrats at $323.1 million. In the Senate races, candidates have spent $613,483,538, with Democrats at $381.1 million and Republicans at $192 million.
These large sums of money have become a significant feature of modern political campaigns, with members of Congress spending considerable time on fundraising activities, impacting their legislative and oversight responsibilities.
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Spending by super PACs and outside groups
Super PACs, or independent expenditure-only committees, are political action committees that can raise and spend unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations, and individuals. Unlike traditional PACs, they are prohibited from donating directly to political candidates, and their spending must be independent of the candidates they benefit. However, despite these rules, illegal coordination between super PACs and candidates is common. Super PACs are required to disclose their donors and expenditures, but they can also receive donations from secret spending groups, or ""dark money" groups, which are typically non-profit organizations that claim tax-exempt status. These groups can accept unlimited contributions without disclosing their donors, enabling secret influence in elections.
The creation of super PACs has dramatically increased political spending from outside groups, enhancing the influence of ultra-wealthy donors, corporations, and special interest groups. From 2010 to 2022, super PACs spent approximately $6.4 billion on federal elections, with a record of at least $2.7 billion spent in the 2024 election cycle. In the 2022 midterms, 21 of the biggest donor families contributed $783 million, and billionaires provided 15% of all federal election financing, most of which went to super PACs supporting congressional campaigns. This has eclipsed the donations from small donors, despite funds from this group growing.
The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision played a significant role in the rise of super PACs and the expansion of dark money. The Court ruled that limits on independent spending by corporations and outside groups violated the First Amendment, equating such spending to "speech". This ruling, along with legal loopholes, has allowed super PACs and dark money groups to keep their sources of funding secret, undermining voters' right to know who is spending significant amounts of money to influence elections.
To address the lack of transparency and reduce political corruption, legislation has been introduced to curb secret spending. However, full transparency about who is spending large sums of money on elections is still lacking, and the true sources of election funding remain hidden from voters.
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Spending by presidential candidates
The 2024 election cycle is on track to be even more expensive, with political campaigns collecting around $8.6 billion for the House, Senate, and presidential elections as of April 2024. The majority of this funding (over 65% or $5.6 billion) has come from Political Action Committees (PACs). Individual candidates have drawn over $2 billion, while party committees have raised just over $929.9 million.
As of May 9, 2024, Joe Biden had raised the most money for his presidential campaign, with $170.6 million, followed by Donald Trump at $114.8 million, and Nikki Haley at $57.2 million.
PACs are political committees that are directly or indirectly established, financed, or controlled by a candidate or an individual holding federal office. They can contribute up to $5,000 per election to a federal candidate committee. In the 2023-2024 election cycle, PACs contributed a total of $205.7 million as of December 31, 2023, with $28.4 million going to Senate candidates and $176.1 million to House candidates.
The increasing influence of money in politics has raised concerns about the integrity of the democratic process, with some proposing reforms to the campaign finance system.
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Frequently asked questions
US political campaigns have collected around $8.6 billion for the 2024 presidential election.
Senate candidates have spent $28.4 million as of December 31, 2023, and $613,483,538 as of May 9, 2024.
House candidates have spent $176.1 million as of December 31, 2023, and $705,893,338 as of May 9, 2024.
