The US midterm elections are on track to becoming the most costly in history, with campaign spending expected to reach almost $12 billion.
The figure should surpass the previous record of $8.9 billion, set during the midterms in 2022, by at least by $2 billion, the OpenSecrets monitoring group said after analyzing the Federal Election Commission’s disclosure data.
Democratic candidates have outspent their Republican rivals by $5.5 billion to $5.1 billion. Third party candidates have spent another $1.3 billion, it said.
Most of the spending came from outside political groups, dubbed Super Political Action Committees (Super PACS), backing the two parties, according to the monitor.
The law allows Super PACS to accept unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, and other political committees. They’re banned from giving this money to candidates, but are free to use it to support them indirectly.
Most of the funds were spent on advertising on TV and online, with other key expenditure items being hiring staff to campaign on the ground, organizing rallies, and carrying out internal polling.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been the largest among the individual megadonors during the campaign, providing the Republicans with around $455 million, OpenSecrets said. His contribution during the presidential race in 2024 stood at some $300 million.
The tech billionaire made his contributions through his own Super PAC, America PAC, to which he had given $265 million,and the Senate Leadership Fund ($168 million). Musk mainly backed candidates in Texas, to which he relocated most of his businesses in recent years.
Among the billionaires who donated more than $100 million were Republican supporters Richard Uihlein and Jeffrey Yass, as well as Michael Bloomberg and George Soros, who gave money to the Democrats.
The NBC News average of national polls, published before the election day, suggested that 52% of Americans preferred a Democrat-controlled Congress as a result of the midterms, with 44% in favor of a Republican one. US President Donald Trump’s approval currently stands at 38%, it said.
A record 57.5 million Americans have cast their ballots via mail or early in-person voting ahead of November 3.
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