The price tag to elect a president and members of Congress in 2024 is projected to reach a record $15.9 billion, according to a new analysis by OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog.
OpenSecrets found that the spending will surpass the $15.1 billion spent in the 2020 elections. With just weeks to go until Election Day, outside spending from super PACs with massive war chests to boost candidates through advertising and mailings is expected to exceed $5 billion.
“Spending on the 2024 election cycle started slowly but ramped up significantly when Vice President [Kamala] Harris took over the Democratic nomination,” said Sarah Bryner, the research director for OpenSecrets. She noted that “increased spending by outside spending groups and costlier House and Senate races continue to drive the total cost of the federal election upward.”
The report’s release comes amid a tight race between Harris and former President Donald Trump and will be decided by results in swing states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, and Wisconsin. In top battleground states, Trump leads Harris by 0.2 percentage points, while Harris leads the former president by 2 points nationally, according to a RealClearPolitics polling average.
Harris and the Democratic Party are projected to raise roughly $1 billion from July through September, according to the OpenSecrets findings. The Harris campaign reported having $404 million cash on hand at the end of August, while Trump reported having $283 million at the end of September, federal records show.
The report found that outside spending is favoring Republicans over Democrats, a change from the 2020 elections when left-leaning groups worked to thwart a second Trump presidency. The GOP-aligned super PAC Make America Great Again Inc. has spent over $239 million, while Democratic-aligned super PAC Future Forward has spent over $212 million, federal records show.
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A super PAC called Fairshake, which is connected to the cryptocurrency industry, has spent $123 million boosting Republicans and Democrats, OpenSecrets found.
“On the congressional side, each of the four super PACs linked to party leadership are also partially-disclosing groups,” the report found. “Combined, they have reported receiving nearly $72 million in contributions from their affiliated dark money groups. This obfuscation of the true source of funds to super PACs is a commonly used method by political groups to bypass meaningful disclosure, and we continue to see significant spending by non-disclosing groups.”