The campaign spending watchdog predicts the 2024 election cycle will be the most expensive on record

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) – They say you can never have enough or overspend to win an election.

“If there was a certain amount of money you needed to win, it would be a very simple process,” said Sarah Bryner, research director at OpenSecrets.

Outside political action committees are spending more money than ever before. According to a recent report from OpenSecrets, more than $5 billion of the record $16 billion expected to be spent by Election Day is expected to be spent. That’s nearly a billion more than the same groups spent at this point in 2020.

Bryner said this was due to inflation and deeper divisions in America.

“This will attract more and more money from people who care about the balance of power,” Bryner said.

An official with the Wesleyan Media Project said that the Harris and Trump campaigns air about equal numbers of television ads in swing-state media markets, but that there is a clearer advantage online.

“If we look at the meta, which includes Facebook and Instagram, and then the Google properties, which includes YouTube, the Harris campaign definitely dominates digital ad spending,” said co-director Erika Franklin Fowler.

A Trump campaign spokesman said: “Every dollar raised by President Trump’s donors will be valued, carefully considered and wisely spent to maximize President Trump’s chances of victory on November 5th.”

The Harris campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Congressional elections are also generating record revenues as the legal donation limits for candidates were raised from $2,800 to $3,300 four years ago. Senate Democrats, who hold power in the upper house, outspent Republicans by more than $150 million. On average, Republicans who control the House of Representatives see their candidates spend nearly $100,000 more than their counterparts.

Bryner said, “If you look at the money as kind of a smoke signal about what’s going to happen, you want to see who’s giving the money.” Are the people coming from out of state? Will the people actually be able to vote for the candidate in the end?”

While better-funded candidates typically win, more money is expected to come in and be spent leading up to Election Day, Bryner said.

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