Americans voted on Tuesday in the most expensive midterm elections in the country’s history, with candidates and outside political groups spending close to US$12 billion — in a contest where voters told pollsters their overriding concern was the cost of living.

The total comes from OpenSecrets, a research organisation that tracks money in US politics, as reported by Al Jazeera. Hiru News put the projection at $11.9 billion, roughly 30 per cent above what the 2022 midterms cost.

The growth is concentrated in money spent outside the campaigns themselves. Al Jazeera reports that outside spending has nearly tripled in a decade, from $4.12 billion in 2016 to an estimated $11.9 billion this cycle — a shift driven by Super PACs, independent committees that face no limit on what they may raise or spend. Hiru cites Federal Election Commission data showing more than $9.5 billion had already been spent by mid-October, and a Brennan Center for Justice finding that the 40 largest donors alone had given $2.4 billion by 14 October.

Where the money went

Elon Musk was the largest single donor, giving $445 million to Republicans. The biggest Super PACs were the Senate Leadership Fund ($489 million), MAGA Inc ($353 million), Senate Majority PAC ($248 million) and House Majority PAC ($192 million).

The costliest single contest was Michigan’s Senate race between Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, at an estimated $333 million, with outside groups putting about $169 million behind Rogers and $94 million behind El-Sayed.

What voters said

CNN’s exit polling records an electorate unhappy on economic grounds. Around three-quarters of voters called economic conditions bad, and roughly 9 in 10 said the cost of living was “crucial” or a major factor in their choice. About 6 in 10 disapproved of President Donald Trump’s job performance, half of them strongly, and around two-thirds said he had worsened economic conditions, mostly attributing higher costs to his policies rather than to events beyond his control. About a fifth of those who backed Trump in 2024 now disapprove of his record.

Hiru reported that surveys pointed to a strong chance of the balance in Congress shifting, with Democrats favoured to take the House of Representatives and control of the Senate still uncertain.

A discrepancy worth noting

Hiru’s filings give Musk’s total as “close to $500 million” and say his America PAC put more than $45 million behind Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton in Texas. Al Jazeera’s figure for Musk is $445 million, and CNN’s reporting on the same spending puts more than $150 million behind Paxton, out of about $216 million Musk gave to America PAC. This article uses the verified international figures.

Not reported

No outcome was available when this article was published: polls had begun closing in the eastern states and early returns were still coming in. None of the three sources reports a result, a seat count, or a final certified spending total — the $11.9 billion figure is a projection, not an audited tally.

Sources