Outside groups have poured an astounding $1.1 billion into the presidential race with less than two weeks to go before Election Day, an NBC News analysis found, surpassing the record set during the 2020 election.
That figure includes spending from super PACs and other groups not directly affiliated with the candidates’ campaigns and party committees over the course of the primary and general election campaigns.
To put the current level of outside spending into perspective, the $1 billion-plus figure dwarfs the gross domestic product of more than a dozen nations.
The frenetic pace is already ahead of where things stood at this point four years ago, when there was more than $910 million in independent expenditures by Oct. 24. In total, the 2020 presidential contest saw just more than $1 billion in spending.
Vice President Kamala Harris, whose presidential candidacy is only months old after an unprecedented summer switch at the top of the Democratic ticket, has been the subject of more than two-thirds of the total outside spending this cycle.
Outside groups have spent $464 million in support of her and more than $393 million in opposition. Harris has faced more outside spending aimed at defining her at this point in the race than either former President Donald Trump or Joe Biden faced throughout the entirety of the 2020 contest. It’s also more that both major party nominees faced combined in the 2016 and 2012 presidential races.
By comparison, Trump has benefited from $75 million of outside spending supporting him, while facing $124 million in outside spending against him.
The numbers are just a slice of the full financial picture of the 2024 race, as those totals don’t include the money spent by the campaigns themselves and affiliated committees, including the national and state Democratic and Republican parties.
So far, the Biden-turned-Harris and Trump campaigns have spent more than $600 million between them since the start of 2023, with the national party organizations spending hundreds of millions more. Add that to the more than $1 billion in independent expenditures, and the price tag of the presidential campaign reaches $2 billion.
Team Harris has had a clear advantage in direct spending from the campaigns and national parties. Her campaign has raised more than $615 million from July through September, while spending more than $500 million.
Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign has raised more than $150 million and spent $163 million over that same period, but a constellation of allied outside groups have helped him cut into that edge.
Bridget Bowman contributed.
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