Research Data

Data & Downloads

All data underlying this analysis is available as clean CSV files matching the schema in the data dictionary. All figures are in nominal U.S. dollars (millions), by federal election cycle.

Total cost of federal elections by cycle (2000–2024, $M)

Cycle	Total cost	Type
2000	$3,100M	presidential
2002	$2,200M	midterm
2004	$4,100M	presidential
2006	$2,900M	midterm
2008	$5,300M	presidential
2010	$3,600M	midterm
2012	$6,300M	presidential
2014	$3,800M	midterm
2016	$6,500M	presidential
2018	$5,700M	midterm
2020	$15,100M	presidential
2022	$8,900M	midterm
2024	$15,900M	presidential

Source: OpenSecrets, "Cost of Election" (federal, nominal). 2020 revised to $15.1B; 2024 preliminary. 2022 is federal only ($16.7B figure includes state races).

Outside spending by cycle (independent expenditures, $M)

Cycle	Total IE	Super PACs	Hybrid PACs	Electioneering
2012	$1,250.5M	—	—	$15.1M
2014	$787.8M	$339.4M	$2.6M	$7.3M
2016	$1,631M	$1,100M	$46.7M	$56.1M
2018	$1,301M	$820.5M	$72.9M	$15.3M
2020	$3,143.7M	$2,000M	$552.2M	$32.8M
2022	$2,255M	$1,300M	$555M	$4.8M
2024	$4,426.5M	$2,700M	$1,400M	$11.3M

Source: FEC end-of-cycle statistical summaries. 2012 not broken out by committee type; 2014 is congressional only.

Dark money by cycle (undisclosed-donor spending, $M)

Cycle	Dark money	Source / method
2010	$127M	OpenSecrets
2012	$308M	OpenSecrets
2014	$174M	OpenSecrets
2016	$216M	OpenSecrets
2020	$1,000M	Brennan Center (2024)
2024	$1,900M	Brennan Center (2024)

Sources: OpenSecrets (2010–2016) and Brennan Center (2020, 2024). The two eras use different methods — not directly comparable.

Download all data

Outside spending (independent expenditures) by cycle

01_outside_spending_by_cycle.csv

↓ CSV

Dark money (undisclosed-donor spending) by cycle

02_dark_money_by_cycle.csv

↓ CSV

Total cost of federal elections by cycle (2000–2024)

03_total_election_cost_by_cycle.csv

↓ CSV

Data dictionary

Full schema: data_dictionary.md is included in the dataset download. Key notes:

All dollar fields are _musd — nominal U.S. dollars, millions
Figures are by two-year election cycle, labeled by the even (election) year
"Super PAC" = FEC independent-expenditure-only committees; "hybrid PAC" = committees with non-contribution accounts
Blank super_pac_ie_musd = the FEC summary did not separate it (2012)
Dark money 2010–2016 and 2020–2024 use different methods — treat as two series, not one continuous trend