If the 2024 election cycle is proving anything, it’s that nothing sells better than uncertainty, except maybe chaos.
The elections, which in the last three months alone have seen two assassination attempts and a sitting president forced to resign by his own party, are proving “too close” in all the battleground states.
And that has totaled a record more than $15.9 billion in total campaign donations, the nonprofit OpenSecrets.org reported.
“Whoever faces Donald Trump will have infinite money,” said Louis Perron, a political consultant based in Switzerland. He said that for many campaign donors, “the driver is emotional.”
With both campaigns raising cash and well-funded groups eager to try to influence the outcome, there are plenty of incentives to spend big.
“It’s because the stakes are high and because it’s close,” the Beat the Incumbent author told DailyMail.com.
Campaign data compiled for 2024 by the nonprofit OpenSecrets reveals that the election is on track to be the most expensive in history. 2020 race may still maintain lead when adjusted for inflation
To put it in context, that roughly $16 billion could buy three of the four teams competing for the World Series: the Yankees ($7.55 billion), the Dodgers ($5.45 billion) and the Mets ($3 billion). dollars), based on 2024 Forbes valuations.
You could also buy 36,000 trips to space on Blue Origin or Virgin Galactic for about $450,000 per trip, or five Big Macs with fries and a Coke for every American..
Even the staggering $1 billion that Vice President Kamala Harris has raised since her party forced President Joe Biden to retire in July (thought to be a record). is just a fraction of the staggering total that Republicans and democrats They are expected to raise and spend by November 5.
Most of that haul will be spent on a race to the top of tickets that is still considered a toss-up with less than three weeks until Election Day.
The combined spending includes tons of cash from deep-pocketed Super PACs and other outside groups pouring funds into both the Trump versus Harris race and down-ballot legislative races, with control of the White House, House and Senate up for grabs .
Harris’ fundraising has demonstrated her ability to generate popular support after replacing a sinking President Joe Biden in July.
The Democrat’s war chest swelled after senior party figures, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, forced Biden to end his career.
Meanwhile, Trump has seen his small individual donations fall (less than $200 each), forcing him to turn to wealthy donors to try to make up the difference.
Small donors now account for less than a third of their haul, compared to almost half in 2020.
But still, an avalanche of online fundraising from small donors and a spate of big money from major campaign donors to the candidates are only part of what is paying for the overspending.
It’s the outside groups that are “spending more and more, and we’ve seen that cycle after cycle,” OpenSecrets’ Brendan Glavin told DailyMail.com.
‘TThe rate of increase this cycle is actually experiencing for outgroups. the ceiling,” said Glavin, the group’s deputy director of research.
Vice President Kamala Harris crossed the $1 billion threshold in campaign fundraising. But outside groups and mega-donors are pushing total spending to $15.9 billion.
Spending by outside groups unrelated to candidates’ campaigns, including on television ads, is already breaking records.
That spending has exceeded $2.6 billion as of October 7, according to data from OpenSecrets.
Conservative-leaning groups maintain the lead there, led by the Make America Great Again PAC, which is independent of the Trump campaign. He has invested $239 million in the race.
The pro-Harris Future Forward PAC has spent $212 million.
Donald Trump and the Republicans raised $430 million during the last reporting period. But the top five megadonors back Republicans on their own spending.
So-called ‘dark money’ nonprofits that spend to influence elections do not have to disclose their donors under the 2010 Supreme Court decision. United Citizens decision.
The spending is also coming into congressional elections, with both the House and Senate considered to be in play.
This year there are already three major Senate races that have exceeded $100 million, in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Montana. The Montana race, where Democratic Sen. Jon Tester is fighting for survival, could cost up to $250 million, or $250 for each of the state’s 1 million residents, according to Bloomberg News.
A number of mega-donors are also splurging on campaign spending, donating 7 percent of all money raised, or $599 million, according to OpenSecrets data.
The top five megadonors back Republicans in 2024.
Trump recently appeared on stage with Elon Musk in Butler, Pennsylvania. The world’s richest man has said he will donate $45 million a month to a pro-Trump US PAC, which was formed in June.
Although campaigns prefer to highlight their small donors, they represent only 16 percent of all contributions in the cycle, according to OpenSecrets.
That’s a drop from 22 percent in 2020.
But while spending in 2024 is projected to break the dollar record, 2020 could still reign supreme, in part because inflation, which is proving to be a major campaign issue, is also being reflected in campaign spending.
Record fundraising totals in 2020 were $15.1 billion. But when adjusted for inflation just four years later, that figure equals $18.3 billion in current dollars.
The 2020 race featured billionaires Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer, who saw parts of their fortunes disappear with a combined $1.4 billion in campaign spending on their losing candidacies.
In the 2016 election that brought Trump to power, a comparatively paltry total of $8.5 billion was spent on campaign spending, adjusted for inflation in 2024 dollars.
By the latest reporting period, Harris and Democrats were expected to have raised $1 billion, while Trump and Republicans raised $430 million. Harris and the Democrats had $404 million in the bank, and Trump and the Republicans had $283 million.
Public disclosures reveal where campaigns are spending their profits. Harris campaign is cutting most of the big media buying checks, Federal Election Commission the data reveals.
Most of it is financing brutal television air wars in the disputed states. The Trump camp is pouring funds into its own media buys, as well as direct mail to reach voters at home.