How Gigantic Sums of Money Shape This US Election Season
Your guide to the rules of campaign finance in a country where there are no legal limits to spending — and candidates who spend the most tend to win
Illustration: Mia Oberländer
Money plays a bigger role in elections in the US than it does in other countries. There’s no legal limit to campaign spending in the US, and candidates who do more of it usually win. Thus, fundraising — via emails and texts, social media and glitzy galas — is vital to virtually any run for office.
Political campaigns are expensive in the US and keep getting pricier. Spending on presidential and congressional elections totaled $14.4 billion in the 2020 election, more than double the record amount spent on the race four years earlier. For the 2024 election scheduled for Nov. 5, candidates and groups supporting them had already raised more than $14.8 billion as of Aug. 31, Federal Election Commission records show, with the biggest fundraising still ahead.