Politics 3 min read By Callum Montgomery
Trump's groups spend nearly $277m on midterms with $164m still in bank
Donald Trump's political groups have spent nearly $277 million since September to support Republican candidates, an unprecedented sum for a sitting president, with more than $164 million still available ahead of the 3 November midterms.
Donald Trump's political groups have spent nearly $277 million since the start of September to bolster Republican candidates in the final weeks of the US midterm elections, according to new federal campaign finance filings. The figure is an unprecedented sum for a sitting president and underlines the stakes of the vote on 3 November, when control of both chambers of Congress is at risk.
MAGA Inc., the president's flagship super PAC, reported the spending, including transfers of $200 million to No Going Back PAC Inc. and $25 million to Safety & Affordability PAC Inc., two affiliated groups that have been running extensive advertising campaigns. Corry Bliss, a Republican strategist who ran the Congressional Leadership Fund in the 2018 cycle, said: «It's more than any president has ever spent, by far, on the midterms.»
The spending surge reflects the pressure on Trump to help his party defend its slim majorities in the House and Senate. The party in power almost always loses seats in midterm elections, and Republicans face a particularly difficult contest after Trump helped defeat several longtime incumbents and amid low approval ratings driven by voter frustration over persistently high costs and the unpopular war with Iran.
One clear advantage for Republicans has been their financial edge over Democrats, boosted by billionaire donors including Elon Musk. The three Trump-affiliated groups required to disclose their donors have spent more than $256 million on advertising, according to AdImpact, which tracks media spending and reservations. That includes tens of millions of dollars in Texas to support embattled Senate candidate Ken Paxton in his race against Democrat James Talarico. Musk has also invested heavily in the state, prompting Talarico to accuse him of trying to buy the seat.
MAGA Inc. still had more than $164 million in cash as of 14 October, leaving ample resources for the final stretch. The group began September with nearly $416 million in the bank and has continued to raise large sums from billionaire backers including businesswoman Diane Hendricks, Blackstone chief executive Stephen A. Schwarzman and casino magnate Steve Wynn.
In a post on his social media site, Trump said he planned to spend «over 400 Million Dollars by Election Day», including $300 million he said had already gone on advertising, voter contact, rallies, tele-rallies, get-out-the-vote programmes and efforts to prevent voter cheating.
However, the decision to wait until late in the cycle to begin advertising has diluted the impact of the spending. The groups are paying far higher rates because of shrinking availability of air time, sometimes more than five times what they would have paid had they acted sooner. The scale of the outlay, and the cash still in reserve, means Trump's operation is likely to remain a dominant financial force through polling day and beyond.
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