U.S. elections

This Is the Most Expensive Midterm Election Ever

This is already shaping up to be the most expensive midterm election in history—$3.9 billion and counting, according to the nonpartisan OpenSecrets.org. Super-PACs and outside spending groups fueled by wealthy donors and corporations account for large chunks of the spending, but candidates themselves, in particular Democrats, are raising huge amounts of cash for their campaigns, and they are relying on relatively small donors to do it. 

Big dollars are pouring into the election across the board, as became clear on Monday when candidates, committees, and super-PACs reported their third-quarter fundraising figures. For comparison, at this same point during the 2016 election, just 23 political committees reported raising more than $1 million in the third quarter—on Monday, 176 groups did.