Campaign donors hope money makes the difference in hotly contested states
Campaign donors hope money makes the difference in hotly contested states
We’re not even halfway through 2024, yet political campaigns and outside groups have already spent billions of dollars on ads for November’s federal elections — those for candidates seeking residency in the White House and seats in the Senate and House of Representatives. But campaigns and outside groups are also pouring money into state and local races. According to Ballotpedia, 11 states have gubernatorial elections and 44 states have legislative races this year. There will also be dozens of ballot initiatives for voters to decide.
Marketplace senior Washington correspondent Kimberly Adams has been looking into the money being spent on these elections. She delved into the details with Marketplace’s Sabri Ben-Achour. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.
Sabri Ben-Achour: So how does the spending in all these state races compare to what we are seeing in the federal — the national races?
Kimberly Adams: It really depends on where you are and how competitive your individual state is. So Sarah Bryner is research director at OpenSecrets, which tracks money in politics. And she says the states that are the most expensive are going to be those where the balance of power is really on the line.
Sarah Bryner: Think of of Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina — places where the party could switch as to who controls the legislature.
Adams: And in many of those states, those state representatives who are running for office are competing for attention and money with big federal races in what are swing states. Now that comes even though what happens at the state legislature level can often have way more of a direct impact on people’s lives than what their federal representatives are doing.
Ben-Achour: Well, we mentioned at the top about ballot initiatives. What issues are getting the most attention from voters and donors?
Adams: OpenSecrets is tracking this as well, the money going into all these ballot initiatives all over the country. And the most costly so far are both in Florida. There’s an effort to amend the state constitution to legalize marijuana. That has about $35 million raised and spent so far on that one. And there’s also an amendment on the ballot to legalize abortion, and close to $20 million has been spent on that effort alone so far. There are some other interesting ones, like an initiative to limit super PAC contributions in Maine, adding congressional age limits in North Dakota and prohibiting carbon tax credit trading in Washington state.
Ben-Achour: What about the source of these funds?
Adams: There’s a mix of small and large donors, but even in these races that seem very local — think city councils, school boards and judges — Sarah Bryner at OpenSecrets says, if you really dig a bit, you’re gonna find a lot of the same big, national players that are funding races at the federal level.
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