Super PAC and dark money election spending hits $4.2 billion in 2024 — 28 times what it was before Citizens United

The 2024 presidential election cycle saw total outside spending exceed $4.2 billion, a 28-fold increase from the $144 million spent in 2008 before Citizens United, according to the Campaign Legal Center and OpenSecrets. Dark money from nonprofits that do not disclose donors exceeded $1 billion in the presidential race alone. Elon Musk America PAC spent more than $200 million backing Donald Trump, while liberal dark money groups funded through the Sixteen Thirty Fund and related networks spent hundreds of millions more.