US midterms set spending record as Elon Musk becomes top individual donor

A record cycle in dollars

Spending on the 2026 midterms had passed $9.5bn in filings made to the Federal Election Commission by mid-October. OpenSecrets, a research group that tracks money in US politics, expects the total to reach $11.9bn by the end of the cycle. ABC News, as cited by watson, describes this as the most expensive federal midterm on record, compared with about $8.9bn in 2022. Even after adjusting for inflation, 2026 is expected to set a new high. According to the Wesleyan Media Project, more than $7.1bn has gone on campaign ads in Senate, House and governor races, with about $1.4bn of that spent in two weeks of October alone.

2022 total (ABC News)8.9

2026 projection (OpenSecrets)11.9

2022 total (ABC News)

8.9 $bn

2026 projection (OpenSecrets)

11.9 $bn

Data from the article text

Outside groups and super PACs

Super PACs can accept unlimited sums from individuals, companies and other groups and use them to back or attack candidates, but they may not coordinate that spending directly with campaign teams. Al Jazeera recalls that the Supreme Court overturned a 2010 rule that had barred such groups from funding adverts close to elections. OpenSecrets expects outside groups alone to have spent about $3.9bn by the end of the campaign, compared with about $2bn in 2022. In the latest figures, conservative organisations have spent about $2.03bn, ahead of liberal groups at about $1.67bn.

Conservative outside groups2.03

Liberal outside groups1.67

Conservative outside groups

2.03 $bn

Liberal outside groups

1.67 $bn

Data from the article text

Musk's giving and the Democratic response

Watson's account of the federal data puts Musk's donations to political organisations at about $445m, including $215m to his own America PAC and $168m to the Republican-leaning Senate Leadership Fund. Digi24 and Adevarul, citing EFE and Agerpres, put his contributions to the Republican Party at $474m, a record for a donor who is not a candidate. BBC reporting gives a figure of about $500m. The New York Times, in investigations cited by several outlets, says the true figure could be higher, because some of his giving is hard to trace and federal records only run to 14 October.

Several Democratic lawmakers have said they plan to investigate Musk if their party wins control of one chamber of Congress. The planned probes would examine how he ran the Department of Government Efficiency, which has since been dissolved, the contracts his companies hold with the federal government, and his role in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

What is at stake on Tuesday

On Tuesday, 3 November, all 435 House seats and 35 of the 100 Senate seats are contested, and governors are elected in 36 states. Donald Trump is not on the ballot, but the result will shape how much of his agenda he can carry out in the last two years of his term. BBC reporting, as cited by Adevarul, notes that the first results may not settle which party controls Congress, and that counting could take hours, days or even weeks.

OpenSecrets expects Democratic candidates to have spent more than $2.2bn, against about $1.4bn for Republican candidates, by the end of the cycle. Those candidate totals sit alongside the outside spending, so the final cost of the campaign will only be settled after the vote and the filings that follow.

Democratic candidates (more than)2.2

Republican candidates1.4

Democratic candidates (more than)

2.2 $bn

Republican candidates

1.4 $bn

Data from the article text