US Elections: Most Expensive Elections in History

The United States election taking place this year will be the most expensive in history, with costs exceeding 14 billion dollars, according to experts from the Center for Responsive Politics.

The Center previously estimated the election would reach nearly $11 billion in total spending. But an extraordinary influx of political donations in the final months — driven by a Supreme Court battle and closely watched races for the White House and Senate — pushed total spending well past that figure.

Most of the cost is associated with campaign acts and advertisements. Democrat Joe Biden leads in the amount of money raised by his campaign team, while President Donald Trump has stalled since July. The source of these resources outlines the electoral bases of each candidate.

According to the Federal Elections Commission, Biden raised nearly $ 1 billion directly from individuals (excluding other contributions, such as those from interest groups and entrepreneurs). The president, for his part, managed to add just over 600 million dollars.

Spending by deep-pocketed national groups also is driving the total cost of election higher. In October alone, outside spending by super Political Action Groups (PAC) and other big-money groups totaled nearly $1.2 billion. These groups are spending far more to boost Biden than help Trump, further aiding the Democrats' cash-flush campaign.

Driven by their supporters’ strong opposition to Trump, Democrats are continuing the fundraising prowess that helped them dominate the money race in the 2018 election cycle.
Their money machine is more powerful than ever in 2020.

Democrats are also raising more in large part because women are giving more. More than 1.5 million women have donated to federal committees, accounting for 44 percent of all donors.  In the 2020 election, women have provided $2.5 billion through mid-October, up from $1.3 billion throughout the entire 2016 election.

Both parties raised more than ever from small donors, but Democrats came out on top. Democrats have raised nearly $1.7 billion from bite-sized donors, compared to $1 billion for
Republicans.