Staggering $16 BILLION in donations spent on the 2024 election smashes records – and it’s still too close to call

If the 2024 election cycle proves one thing, it’s that nothing sells better than uncertainty — except maybe chaos.

The elections, which have seen two assassination attempts in the past three months alone and a sitting president forced to resign by his own party, are “too close to call” in every battleground state.

And that has led to a record more than $15.9 billion in campaign donations, the nonprofit OpenSecrets.org reported.

“Whoever runs against Donald Trump will have endless money,” said Louis Perron, a political consultant based in Switzerland. He told many campaign donors, “the motivation is emotional.”

With both campaigns raking in cash and well-funded groups eager to influence the outcome, there are plenty of incentives to spend big.

“It’s because the stakes are so high and it’s close,” the Beat the Incumbent author told DailyMail.com.

For context, that nearly $16 billion could buy three of the four teams competing for the World Series: the Yankees ($7.55 billion), Dodgers ($5.45 billion), and Mets ($3 billion), based on the Forbes ratings for 2024.

It could also buy 36,000 rides to space on Blue Origin or Virgin Galactic for about $450,000 per ride, or five Big Macs with fries and a Coke for every American..

Even the eye-popping $1 billion that Vice President Kamala Harris has raised since her party forced President Joe Biden to withdraw in July — itself a record — is just a fraction of the staggering total that Republicans and Democrats are expected to collect and spend before November 5.

Most of that proceeds will go toward a top race still called a toss-up, with less than three weeks to go before Election Day.

The combined spending includes tons of money from deep-pocketed Super PACs and other outside groups pouring money into both the Trump-Harris race and the congressional elections — with control of the White House, House of Representatives and Senate all is there for the taking.

Harris’ fundraising has shown her ability to galvanize popular support after replacing the fading President Joe Biden in July.

The Democrat’s war chest grew after senior party figures, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, forced Biden to end his election campaign.

Trump, meanwhile, has seen his small individual donation — less than $200 each — decline, forcing him to turn to wealthy donors to try to make up the difference.

Small donors now represent less than a third of its revenue, compared to almost half in 2020.

But a huge amount of online fundraising from small donors and a series of big money flows from top campaign donors to candidates is only part of what the spending binge pays for anyway.

It’s third-party groups that are “spending more and more, and we’ve seen that cycle after cycle,” OpenSecrets’ Brendan Glavin told DailyMail.com.

‘TThe rate of increase of this cycle for the external groups is really continuing the roof,” said Glavin, the group’s deputy research director.

Vice President Kamala Harris has crossed the $1 billion threshold in campaign fundraising. But outside groups and megadonors are pushing the total spending to $15.9 billion

Spending by outside groups unrelated to the candidates’ campaigns, including on TV ads, is already blowing away records.

According to data from OpenSecrets, that spending topped $2.6 billion on October 7.

Conservative-leaning groups maintain the lead there, led by the Make America Great Again PAC, which is separate from Trump’s campaign. It has put $239 million into the race.

The pro-Harris Future Forward PAC has spent $212 million.

Donald Trump and the Republicans raised $430 million in the last reporting period. But the five largest megadonors all support Republicans in their own spending

So-called “dark money” nonprofits that spend money to influence elections are not required to disclose their donors under the 2010 Supreme Court ruling. Citizens united decision.

Money is also being spent on congressional races, with both the House of Representatives and Senate up for grabs.

There are already three major $100 million Senate races this year, in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Montana. The Montana race, in which Democratic Sen. Jon Tester is fighting for survival, could cost up to $250 million — or $250 for each of the state’s 1 million residents, according to Bloomberg News.

A series of mega-donors are also busy spending on campaigns, donating 7 percent of all money raised, or $599 million, according to OpenSecrets data.

The five largest megadonors all support Republicans in 2024.

Trump recently appeared on stage with Elon Musk in Butler, Pennsylvania. The world’s richest man has said he is donating $45 million a month to a pro-Trump America PAC, which was formed in June.

Although campaigns prefer to highlight their small-dollar donors, they account for only 16 percent of all contributions to the cycle, according to OpenSecrets.

That is a decrease compared to 22 percent in 2020.

But while spending will break dollar records in 2024, 2020 could still reign supreme, in part because inflation, which is proving to be a major campaign issue, is also playing a role in campaign spending.

Record fundraising totals in 2020 were $15.1 billion. But just four years later, adjusted for inflation, that amounts to $18.3 billion in current dollars.

The 2020 race saw billionaires Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer burn away part of their fortunes with a combined campaign spending of $1.4 billion in their losing bids.

The 2016 election, which brought Trump to power, totaled $8.5 billion in campaign spending, adjusted for inflation in 2024 dollars.

For the last reporting period, Harris and the Democrats were expected to have raised $1 billion, while Trump and the Republicans had raised $430 million. Harris and the Democrats had $404 million in the bank, while Trump and the Republicans had $283 million.

Public disclosures reveal where the campaigns spend their proceeds. The Harris campaign removes most major controls on media buying, Federal Election Commission reveal data.

Most of this is intended to finance brutal TV air wars in the theaters of war. The Trump camp is pouring money into its own media buys, plus direct mail to contact voters at home.