Oliver Wells
The final election spending reports show the total cost of the 2024 elections at $15.9 billion, with the Republicans outspending the Democrats by nearly $1 billion. This grotesque sum sits as the second-most expensive election cycle in US history, after the $18.4 billion 2020 election cycle (adjusted for inflation). Outside spending—money spent by Super PACs, nonprofits, and others rather than by the campaign itself—reached $2 billion for the presidential election alone, double that amount in 2020 and ten times more than in the 2008 election cycle.
The top 1% of all donors accounted for 50% of all money raised. Among the top donors was tech monopolist Elon Musk, who disclosed spending around $277 million on the Trump campaign. However, he and others may have spent more—the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court ruling protects unlimited corporate spending as free speech, facilitating billionaires to directly compete against one another over the state bureaucracy, while at the same time allowing them to hide their spending. This is done by funneling money through nonprofits that then donate to Super PACs—though the Super PAC has to disclose its donors, nonprofits do not.
Super PACs, a type of political action committee that can fundraise unlimited amounts of money in support of a political campaign, come with the stipulation that they cannot coordinate with the campaign. However, in response to a request by a Democrat-aligned PAC, a 2024 decision by the Federal Election Commission softened this rule to allow coordination on canvassing. Trump’s campaign notably outsourced his canvassing to Musk, who took full control in the final stretch of the campaign.
By covering the source of the donations, Super PACs also allow donors aligned with one of the two party mafias to covertly fund third party candidates to siphon votes from their opponent. One Democrat-aligned Super PAC spent millions spreading anti-abortion literature in support of third party candidate Randall Terry. The Democrats have no commitment to defending women’s reproductive rights, but cynically exploit contradictions around it for their political advancement.
Campaign spending also plays a secondary role of transferring money into the hands of the rich. 16% of all money raised came from donations under $200, while labor unions spent tens of millions of dollars on PACs. This money then goes to the hands of allied monopolists, such as Harris’s campaign paying billionaire Oprah Winfrey’s production company $1 million.
