Yahoo Finance Midterm Election Funding Is Set To Exceed $9.3 Billion – Where Is The Money Coming From?
The race for victory in the midterms is heating up, with the elections less than three weeks away. And money is talking — loudly.
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OpenSecrets expects total federal midterm election spending to exceed $9.3 billion, This isn’t just a record-breaking amount, it’s a record-demolishing one. The 2018 midterm elections swept in $7.1 billion in funding and that was then considered the most expensive midterm campaign cycle ever.
Individuals and Pacs Are Throwing Money At This Election
So, where is all this money coming from?
“The vast majority of funding comes from fundraising,” said Dr. Jim Ronan, a political science professor at Villanova University. “Now, that could be individual or PAC donations, as well as money from both major parties. For instance, both the Democratic and Republican Parties have Congressional Campaign Committees, whose purpose is to raise and then provide money for their congressional candidates.”
Who’s Spending More?
Republicans and Democrats are fairly neck and neck in spending right now.
“House candidates have raised $1.7 billion in funds ($873 million for Democrats, $846 million for Republicans) and Senate candidates have raised around $1.4 billion ($741 million for Democrats, $621 million for Republicans),” said David Carlucci, a former New York State senator, citing data from OpenSecrets.
“Although funding totals are equal for both parties, the way that they have gained that money varies especially in the most competitive races,” Carlucci said. “One of the most distinguished races, the Pennsylvania Senate election between John Fetterman and Dr. Mehmet Oz is one of the greatest examples of this. Fetterman (D) has raised nearly $48 million throughout the campaign cycle, mainly from small individual contributions of less than $200 ($25 million). Oz (R) on the other hand has raised almost $35 million, mainly from his own personal financing ($21 million).”
Determining whether the $9.3 billion that OpenSecrets projects will be the total federal midterm election spend is tricky because spending is still underway; “however, a few weeks ago data showed that already $6.4 billion dollars has been spent on the 2022 campaign,” Ronan said. “And since ad buys always increase the closer we get to Election Day, we can expect that number to grow considerably. In terms of locations, the key Senate races in Arizona, Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, are likely to receive the most money in these closing weeks.”
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Just how much money will be spent on these midterms? We’ll have to wait and see but either way, “the 2022 election is set to be the most expensive midterm campaign cycle in history,” Carlucci said.
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