New Report Exposes Unprecedented Corporate Spending in 2026 Midterm Elections
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Federal corporate political spending in the midterm elections has reached an all time high of $646 million, a new report from Public Citizen finds. This surge in spending is mainly led by cryptocurrency, online betting, and other Big Tech corporations. This figure represents a 40% increase over corporations’ record-breaking spending in the 2024 presidential election, which totalled $461 million. The 2026 total so far represents more than one third (38%) of the $1.7 billion total that corporations have spent since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United in 2010.
The new report, “Corporate Money in the 2026 Midterms Surges to $650 Million” finds that the largest beneficiaries of the $129 million added in the new second quarter reporting are super PACs Win for America, an online betting super PAC, Americans for Prosperity, the group associated with the billionaire Koch brothers, and MAGA Inc., the Trump-aligned super PAC. These figures are newly reported in the Federal Election Commission’s second quarter data.
“We warned in 2024 that other corporate interests would follow the crypto playbook in future elections, and, unfortunately, that is exactly what we are seeing happen in 2026,” said Rick Claypool, a Public Citizen research director and author of the report. “With nearly unlimited cash at their disposal, corporations are taking advantage of a broken system and influencing elections at an unprecedented level. Without change, we can sadly expect that this record will continue to be broken election after election, with the American people paying the price.”
“The Citizens United decision is, and has always been, a disaster for American democracy,” said Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen. “Key issues such as affordability and addressing the cost of living crisis have taken a backseat to covert plans to shield crypto from regulation, precisely because of this massive influx of dark money. The fate of elections should be decided by the voters, not profit-driven corporations.”