Outside Spending Surpasses $2 Billion in 2022 Election Cycle

Political interest groups donated vast sums to politicians’ campaign chests this year — but they also spent more than $2 billion to directly tout their favored candidates and causes during the 2022 campaign.

The whopping $2.1 billion in “Outside Spending” was a huge increase from the $1.6 billion in such spending during the 2018 midterm elections. It added up to roughly $10 for each of the 110 million Americans who voted in the midterms.

Though outside money given to political action committees is used to support or oppose candidates or issues, the money is not used directly by candidates or their campaigns.

The leading spender was the liberal hedge-fund billionaire, George Soros. Soros spent nearly $127 million in outside spending during the 2022 cycle, data from Open Secrets revealed.

The vast majority of that money, $125 million, went to his own super PAC, Democracy PAC II. Interestingly enough, the super PAC did not report any traditional-style political donations during the 2022 midterm elections.

In the Pennsylvania Senate race, which is by far the most expensive, outside groups contributed $30.6 million in support of the Democratic nominee, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, and about $83 million opposing him. https://t.co/ZDZGQRczWD

— OpenSecrets.org (@OpenSecretsDC) November 13, 2022

Though the Democrat donor gave more than any other individual, the second, third, fourth, and fifth largest donors were all Republicans, who collectively spent over $230 million in outside spending. 

The next biggest donor was Democrat Sam Bankman-Fried, who gave $38.8 million. Bankman-Fried has since been embroiled in an ongoing scandal, as it was revealed that he lent himself a billion dollars through his crypto currency company, FTX. After having an estimated net worth of $26 billion at his peak, Bankman-Fried is now totally broke, Bloomberg reported.

The rest of the donors on the top ten list were all Republicans, who collectively spent roughly $130 million. 

Meanwhile, the Republican-aligned Senate Leadership Fund and the Congressional Leadership Fund were the first and second largest spenders among outside groups. 

The Democrat-aligned Senate Majority PAC and House Majority PAC ranked third and fourth, with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee occupying the fifth slot. The sixth, seventh, and eight outside groups were aligned with Republicans while the ninth and tenth were aligned with Democrats. 

Perhaps most interesting, the majority of the outside spending went towards negative spending intended to attack rival candidates. A report from Open Secrets found that a full 69 percent of outside spending went towards attacking federal candidates. The majority of outside spending has gone towards negative campaigning since 2006. In 2002, only 23.6 percent of outside spending was used to attack rival candidates. 

Breitbart News previously reported that Republican Senate candidates in several key states were severely outspent by their Democrat opponents. 

Blake Masters, for example, spent about $1.00 for every $7.50 spent by incumbent Democrat Sen. Mark Kelly, who won his reelection bid. Meanwhile, in Ohio where Republican J.D. Vance won his Senate race, he only spent about $1 for every $4.90 spent by his Democrat opponent. Several other Republican Senate candidates, such as North Carolina’s Ted Budd or Nevada’s Adam Laxalt, faced similar disadvantages. 

Spencer Lindquist is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerLndqst and reach out at slindquist@breitbart.com