U.S. election spending tops nearly 14 bln, more than previous two election cycles combined

Washington, US | Xinhua | The total cost of the 2020 U.S. election, including presidential and congressional, will near 14 billion U.S. dollars, a sum more than what was spent during the last two election cycles combined, a recent study found.

According to an estimate from the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), the 2020 presidential election, slated for Nov. 3, is set to cost over 6.6 billion dollars, while donations made to the race for congressional seats will top 7.2 billion dollars.

Democrats have spent the lion’s share of that total so far, consuming 6.9 billion dollars, compared to 3.8 billion dollars spent by Republican candidates and groups, the data showed.

“Donors poured record amounts of money into the 2018 midterms, and 2020 appears to be a continuation of that trend — but magnified,” said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is poised to become the first candidate in history to raise 1 billion dollars from donors, after his campaign brought in a record-breaking 938 million dollars through Oct. 14. Incumbent President Donald Trump raised 596 million dollars, according to the estimate.

“Ten years ago, a billion-dollar presidential candidate would have been difficult to imagine. This cycle, we’re likely to see two,” Krumholz said.

OpenSecrets, part of the CRP, said in a press release that the influx of political donations in the final weeks leading up to the Nov. 3 election day was driven by the partisan fight over the now successful Senate confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court and “closely watched races for the White House and Senate.”

While former President Barack Obama, when doing a phone banking for Biden, urged a mother of an eight-month-old to turn out and vote in what will be “a really close election,” Trump reportedly told GOP donors that it will be “tough” for Republicans to continue holding the majority in the Senate after the congressional election.

With Trump and Biden vying for the White House, all of the 435 seats in the House and 35 of the 100 Senate seats are up for election this year.

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Xinhua