11,000 Political Groups Spent $14.7 Billion to Influence the 2024 Election
From billionaires to small-dollar donors, this is 99% of total spending so far.
By Raeedah Wahid, Bill Allison, Cedric Sam and Tanaz Meghjani
November 9, 2024
The US political system runs on money – and lots of it.
With no legal limits on how much money can go into electing candidates to the White House and Congress, voters are deluged with ads, text messages and mailers as Republicans and Democrats battle to influence a deeply divided electorate.
That flood of TV commercials, frantic fundraising appeals and litany of door knockers is the result of $14.7 billion worth of spending from candidates, parties and political action committees, about 92% of the total that OpenSecrets projects will be shelled out through the election cycle.
More than 11,000 political groups — ranging from political action committees backed by billionaire Elon Musk to niche interest groups — spent money in the 2024 election cycle, according to filings with the Federal Election Committee.
This is every single entity that spent more than $100,000, which accounts for 99% of all political spending, with less than a week left before Election Day.
Billions have passed through the coffers of the parties’ fundraising political action committees, including Democrats’ ActBlue and Republicans’ WinRed, which have processed more than 113 million donations and distributed $4.5 billion to other committees.
The two PACs account for more than 31 cents of every dollar spent in the US, and have the most financial activity of any of the committees that spent money in the 2024 election cycle.
President Donald Trump’s political operation raised more money from wealthy donors than grassroots contributors for the first time in his three White House bids.
Super PACs supporting President Trump raised more money from three individuals – Musk, billionaire Miriam Adelson and investor Timothy Mellon – than his campaign and the Republican Party got from his-once mighty army of donors who give less than $200.
Still, it’s Vice pResident Kamala Harris who has the huge money advantage. She’s raised large sums from wealthy supporters and grassroots donors alike, which allowed her campaign to spend more handily compared to President Trump’s, pouring $875 million into the race compared to $355 million for the Republican nominee.
READ MORE:
2024 election poised to shatter spending records
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