Spending on US midterm elections breaks all records, could pass 12 billion dollars

Campaign spending around the US midterm elections is set to break all past records. Total spending this cycle could reach nearly 12 billion dollars, the highest in the history of the country's midterm elections. According to a forecast by OpenSecrets, the independent organisation that tracks election finance, spending could stand at 11.9 billion dollars — roughly 146,000 crore taka in Bangladeshi currency.

The figures were reported by the BBC on Tuesday (3 November). According to the report, the spending is about 30 percent higher than in the 2022 elections.

In the election's key races, huge sums are being spent for candidates by organisations outside the political parties. Known as Super Political Action Committees, or Super PACs, these organisations can collect unlimited donations from individuals, corporations and labour organisations. They cannot give money directly to a candidate, but they support them through advertising and campaigning.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, the top 40 donors had given 2.4 billion dollars by 14 October. No previous midterm cycle has seen so much donated by this point.

The biggest individual spender is billionaire Elon Musk. By October he had spent around 500 million dollars supporting Republican candidates. A large part of it went to America PAC, which he founded, and to the Republican-aligned Senate Leadership Fund.

America PAC is spending more than 45 million dollars for Republican candidate Ken Paxton in the Texas Senate race. The organisation has also spent about 10 million dollars each on the Michigan and Ohio elections.

On the Democratic side, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has given more than 60 million dollars. Two organisations founded by billionaire George Soros have jointly given 102 million dollars to liberal groups. For the Republicans, Jeff Yass and the couple Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein have also given more than 100 million dollars.

Cryptocurrency companies are not behind in election finance either. According to OpenSecrets, Ripple and Coinbase have jointly given 63 million dollars.

Advertising has become the single biggest area of campaign spending. According to AdImpact, 11.15 billion dollars had been spent on advertising by the end of October. Most of it went to television advertising, though investment in digital campaigning is also growing.

For the Senate races, the most advertising money has been spent in Michigan, Texas and Ohio, followed by Iowa and Maine.

Altogether, this year's midterms are set to make a new record in US political history not only for the intensity of the contests but also for election spending.