This year’s U.S. midterm elections are on track to be the most expensive in history, according to a Wesleyan University-based media watchdog.
Its latest report finds $4 billion had been spent on political advertising across all platforms as of September 13.
This is an extraordinary amount of money, said Michael Franz with the Wesleyan Media Project.
“Given what we are seeing in 2026, this midterm election will be the most expensive midterm election to date,” Franz said.
And Super PACS and dark money organizations are ramping up spending.
“We might be on track for something close to $6 billion in the midterm election cycle for Congressional races and gubernatorial races,” he said.
The report finds $100 million spent on the Ohio Senate race alone since August 10.
There’s also been record-setting television broadcast advertising in the U.S. House races.
The five most expensive gubernatorial races in the country spent more than $20 million on ads in the last month.
