These may be tough economic times, but individuals, corporations and special-interest groups still found a spare $6.3 billion to shower on last November’s presidential and congressional elections, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics.
That’s a record, and roughly twice what was spent on national elections 12 years earlier. The non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign financing on the website opensecrets.org, reports that about $2.6 billion was spent on the presidential race, on top of nearly $3.7 billion spent on congressional campaigns.
President Obama directly spent more than all of his Republican rivals combined – about $738 million for the president and $625 million for the GOP candidates. But lopsided spending by parties and outside groups flipped the numbers in favor of the Republicans, bringing the total spent on the presidential election to about $1.1 billion on behalf of Obama, and nearly $1.5 billion on behalf of Mitt Romney and other Republicans.
In races for the House and Senate, $1.7 billion was spent directly by candidates – slightly less than half of all spending. Connecticut candidates spent more than their fair share, thanks to a $50 million race run by Senate hopeful Linda McMahon, and a bruising race to fill the vacant Fifth District Congressional seat. No Connecticut winner spent less than $1 million – even if they had no real competition.
Below is a breakdown of all spending by candidates in Connecticut. Winners are listed in bold. Candidates who participated only in primary elections are listed in italics.
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