Campaign Donations During 2024 Presidential Election Cycle On Track To Hit Record $16B

OpenSecrets predicts the 2024 federal election cycle is on track to be the costliest ever.

The 2024 Presidential Election Cycle has proven to be a historic one. People have witnessed two assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump, and after the debate, incumbent President Joe Biden was forced to take a step back when donors said they would no longer fund his campaign. It pushed Vice President Kamala Harris to the top of the Democratic ticket, ultimately re-energizing the party’s base with volunteers and donations.

With a race that’s too close to call, according to the polls, this unprecedented Presidential Election Cycle is also why the donations are piling in. According to OpenSecrets.org, there has been a record $15.9 billion in campaign donations, surpassing the record $15.1 billion from the 2020 cycle. OpenSecrets predicts the 2024 federal election cycle is on track to be the costliest ever.

“It’s because the stakes are so high and because it is close,” Louis Perron, the author of Beat the Incumbent, told DailyMail.com. He adds that for many campaign donors, “the driver is emotional.”

Where The Campaigns’ Donations Are Going?

Since Harris entered the race, she and the Democratic Party are projected to have raised nearly $1 billion between July and September, as we previously reported. It’s important to note that Harris’s campaign has not released fundraising totals for September at the time of this report, but at the end of August, Harris and the Democratic Party reported $404 million cash on hand.

Trump and the Republican Party raised $430 million during that same time period and $283 million cash on hand at the end of September.

Americans should expect to see an increase in television advertisements, especially as Election Day nears. The Harris-Walz campaign is spending the campaign donations on media buys in key battleground states, including Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and North Carolina. Meanwhile, the Trump-Vance campaign is spending its money on direct mail advertisements in addition to media purchases such as TV ads.