Politics

In 2004, political campaigns spent 9 cents of every dollar raised on fundraising operations. By 2024, that number had reached 30 cents. American political campaigns are raising more and more money less and less efficiently. I’ve analyzed data from FEC disbursement records, using an algorithm I developed to classify expenditures by spending category. It reveals that campaigns are now spending 38 cents of every dollar raised just to raise more money—a fourfold increase from the 9 cents spent in 2004. In raw terms, campaigns burned through $3 billion on fundraising operations in 2024 alone.

This represents a fundamental shift in how political money flows through our democracy. Twenty years ago, fundraising operations were a necessary but modest expense, like renting office space or printing yard signs. Today, it has metastasized into the primary activity of most campaigns. In 2022, 31% of total expenditures were for fundraising expenses. This came close to exceeding the 33% of total expenditures going towards advertising. If current trends hold in 2026, it’s likely that fundraising costs will for the first time exceed what is spent on advertising, thus becoming the biggest spending category.