Hi John,

With approximately four weeks left to go, super PACS have already raised $3.5 billion and spent $2.2 billion on the 2024 election, with the vast majority of that money coming from a small group of wealthy donors. That's right—billion with a b. It's almost double the amount spent in 2022, and is on track to be the most of any election.  

Those donations aren't coming from the majority of Americans: as of September 22, the top 1% of donors accounted for 99.1% of all the money raised by super PACs and hybrid PACs.

So who is spending this money? And what do they want? We partnered with OpenSecrets to shed some light. 

Big donors' favorite way of backing candidates is super PACs, which are entities that can raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, individuals, unions, associations, and others to advocate for or against political candidates. While they can't give that money directly to any candidates, they can and do spend billions of dollars on ads to help preferred candidates get elected.

Most of the biggest super PACs are effectively arms of the major political parties where wealthy individuals can donate as much as they want—and buy the influence that comes with big contributions. But some of the most well-funded super PACs are focused on a particular issue, be it cryptocurrency or American-Israeli relations. 

You deserve to know who is influencing our elections with their money, and what their end goals are. We're putting a spotlight on the biggest super PACs, their biggest donors, and the big goals they hope to achieve with their money.