Since the Supreme Court’s April 2 McCutcheon ruling, which did away with a cap on how many contributions individuals can make to federal candidates and political parties, 310 political donors have already passed the $123,200 maximum that had been in place for the 2014 midterms, according to Federal Election Commission data provided by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research organization.
In all, these donors contributed $50.2 million to federal candidates and political committees by this summer, including $11.6 million more than would have been allowed before the court decision.The $11.6 million, of course, is not much compared with the $800 million raised by House and Senate candidates so far this cycle and the $982 million raised by party committees.
More here from Open Secrets.
And Open Secrets also reports on "dark money" groups (e.g., 501(c)(4) outfits):
Political spending by these groups is reaching new heights: This week, it crested $50 million, a record for this point in an election cycle, and more than seven times beyond the outlays by such groups at this time in the last midterms. And that’s just the amount that has been reported to the Federal Election Commission, which doesn’t include tens of millions more spent on “issue ads” that aired earlier in the cycle and didn’t have to be reported to the agency. It’s another reminder that the current cycle is shaping up to be the darkest election in a long time.
Spending by organizations that don’t disclose their donors is ahead of all other cycles, even the last presidential cycle.
