By Brett Wilkins / Common Dreams
Authorized by the US Supreme Court in 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Despite a ruling allowing unlimited independent financial contributions to support political campaigns, outside spending has reached a record $1 billion during the current election cycle, according to a report released Thursday by the watchdog group OpenSecrets.
“Super PACs and other outside groups that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money have pumped about $1.1 billion into the 2024 federal election through August 15 – nearly twice what similar groups spent during the same period in the 2020 presidential election cycle, when independent spending hit a historic record,” OpenSecrets said.
“More than half of all outside spending in the 2024 election cycle – about $585.8 million – went to the presidential election, which featured a particularly costly Republican presidential nomination campaign,” the group added.
“By far the largest donor is Make America Great Again Inc., the flagship organization of former President Donald Trump,” the report said. “To date, MAGA Inc. has spent approximately $125.1 million to support Trump in the presidential election, including nearly $33.2 million attacking his Republican rivals and more than $65.6 million opposing President Joe Biden.”
“Future Forward and American Bridge 21st Century, the first and second largest Democratic hybrid PACs, have spent a combined $74.7 million on the presidential campaign through August 15,” the release continues. “Both super PACs have focused on supporting Vice President Kamala Harris after Biden suspended his campaign last month.”
Other key findings from the report include:
- Americans for Prosperity (AFP) Action, a super PAC at the center of a network of conservative donors and activists led by billionaire Charles Koch, spent more than $31.2 million to support the failed Republican presidential candidacy of former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.
- After Haley’s defeat, AFP Action focused on the congressional elections, spending nearly $28 million on Republican candidates.
- The pro-cryptocurrency super PAC Fairshake and affiliated groups spent nearly $46 million in the 2024 election cycle, more than any other industry-affiliated organization; and
- The United Democracy Project, the super PAC of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, has spent more than $35 million on the congressional campaign, most of it on efforts to oust progressive lawmakers who the group believes do not sufficiently support Israel.
AIPAC – which pledged to spend $100 million on the 2024 election – played a key role in the defeat of Democratic Reps. Jamaal Bowman (NY) and Cori Bush (MO). The group has come under fire for attacking black and brown members of Congress and supporting Republicans involved in Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
To stem the flood of black money and other outside spending, Democrats in the House of Representatives, led by Representatives Adam Schiff (California), Pramila Jayapal (Washington), Dean Phillips (Minnesota) and Jim McGovern (Massachusetts), proposed a constitutional amendment last year to Citizens united.
” Citizens united was one of the most egregious enablers of special interest money, but it was just the latest in a long line of Supreme Court cases that opened the floodgates,” Schiff’s office said at the time. “To truly curb dark money, we must change our Constitution.”
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Brett Wilkins
Brett Wilkins is an editor at Common Dreams.
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