With a projected price tag of nearly $4 billion, the November elections are set to be the most expensive midterm campaigns ever.
A
Center for Responsive Politics report shows candidates and their parties will spend $2.7 billion and outside spending will total about $900 million.
By comparison, the congressional races in 2010 and 2012 cost about $3.6 billion.
The stunning new figures set the stage for a 2016 presidential contest that could rack up spending approaching double-digit billions,
The Washington Post reports.
"So far, at least $663.3 million has been spent by outside groups like super-PACs and 527s (a figure that is current within the last 48 hours), but CRP's projections based on the pattern in the 2012 cycle indicate that at least another $233.5 million remains to be spent in the 12 days before Nov. 4," center said.
"That's a rate of $19.4 million a day."
The center's numbers crunch shows an almost even split between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to money raised this cycle, with Republicans at $1.55 billion and Democrats at $1.53 billion,
CBS News reports.
The CRP projects that liberal groups will outspend conservatives ones, $433 million to $424 million.
That spending, however, doesn't include nonprofit 501(c)(4) groups such as the Koch brothers-aligned Americans for Prosperity, which have spent heavily on the election, The Post reports.
"Overall, it's likely that at least $100 million in spending is not being counted, and that money leans distinctly to the right, records filed with the Federal Communications Commission indicate.
If that's an accurate estimate, any advantage the liberal outside spending groups have over conservative ones will be washed away by Election Day," the center's analysis
says.