In the mid-term elections to be held in the United States on November 3, there is a fierce battle between President Donald Trump’s Republican Party and the opposition Democratic Party. The way money was spent on campaigning before the election made it one of the most expensive elections in American history. The special thing is that the expenditure on some seats of the Senate is more than the annual budget of many countries.
According to data from advertising intelligence platform AdImpact as of October 26, the 2026 midterm elections were estimated to spend $11.21 billion on ads and bookings, or about Rs. 1.06 lakh crore will be spent. Around $3.2 billion i.e. Rs 30,323 crore was spent on advertising during the 2024 presidential election. However, this comparison is only of advertising expenditure and not of total election expenditure.
More than 12 thousand crore rupees were spent on just three seats
Senate seats in Texas, Ohio and Michigan have also been heavily outspent. According to election spending data, more than $573 million was spent in Texas, more than $435 million in Ohio and nearly $333 million in Michigan. The total cost of these three seats is 1.302 billion dollars i.e. approximately Rs. 12,338 crores is over.
A seat in Texas costs Rs. 5,430 crore spent
The Texas Senate seat has become the most expensive in this election. According to an October 30 report by AdImpact, $165.7 million (roughly Rs. 1,570 crore) was spent in the primaries here. At the same time, $407.5 million (roughly Rs. 3,861 crore) was spent on advertisements and their booking for general elections. That is, the total cost including both the phases is 573 million dollars i.e. about Rs. 5,430 crores.
Earlier in 2024, $542.7 million or about Rs. 5,144 crore was spent. Texas became the second non-presidential seat to cross the mark. Advertising spending on the Ohio Senate seat in the 2026 election also reached $514.3 million (roughly Rs. 4,874 crore). For the first time in American election history, more than $500 million has been spent on two non-presidential contests in the same election cycle, according to AdImpact.
In Texas, Republican candidate Ken Paxton and Democratic candidate James Talarico face off. Republicans spent $140.7 million (roughly Rs. 1,333 crore) more than Democrats on the general election campaign. The Republican Party accounted for the largest share of total general election advertising spending of $407.5 million.
The cost differential in this competition was not like this from the beginning. As of mid-August, the Democratic Party had raised $21.4 million, or about Rs. 203 crore, while the Republicans’ expenditure was only $2.5 million, or about Rs. 24 crores. After this, the Republican Party rapidly increased spending on advertising. From August 25 to election week, it averaged $15.3 million per week, or about Rs. 145 crore spent, which is more than the Democrats. In the week of September 15, the gap reached $29.2 million (about Rs 277 crore).
Paxton’s campaign received large sums of money from outside groups
Most of the spending in Texas came from outside political groups rather than candidates’ election campaigns. According to AdImpact, outside groups ran ads worth $251.7 million (roughly Rs. 2,385 crore) in support of Ken Paxton. At the same time, the cost of such groups in support of James Tallarico was 30.6 million dollars or about 290 crore rupees.
According to AdImpact, 92% of ad support Paxton received came from outside groups. In case of Talarico this share was 23%. This shows that in addition to the candidates’ own campaigning in the election, money from political groups is also trying to influence the outcome.
Advertisements make more allegations than issues
According to AdImpact, the Democrats’ ads featured tax, health care and corruption issues. Democrats ran about 28,000 TV ads on Paxton about corruption. At the same time, issues related to crime, transgender minors and taxes were prominent in Republican ads. Through these advertisements, an attempt was made to portray Tallarico as having liberal views.
Of the total political ads shown on TV in Texas, 61% were negative or antagonistic ads. About two-thirds of Republican TV ads were negative, compared to 52% of Democrats’ ads. More than two-thirds of TV ads from outside political groups had negative or antagonistic messages.
Why are the midterm elections important to Trump?
The term of office of the President in the United States is four years, while mid-term elections are held in the middle of the presidential term. This time, elections are being held for all 435 seats of the House of Representatives and 35 seats of the Senate. The results will determine which party will control both houses of Parliament for the next two years of Trump’s term.
If the Republican Party retains its majority in both houses, it could help Trump advance his agenda. Also, if the Democratic Party gets a majority, its influence on government decisions and legislative work will increase. It is for this reason that both parties are spending heavily on election campaigns.
Who are the largest donor intermediaries?
Elon Musk gave 446 million dollars i.e. about 4,226 crore rupees in the mid-term elections. At the same time, Richard and Elizabeth Yulin contributed about $150 million, Jeff Yass and his wife contributed about $110 million, and George Soros contributed about $102 million.
