Outside Spending Reached $400 Million in 2010 Election

Independent expenditures were nearly 60 percent higher than the 2006 midterms

November 9, 2010 RSS Feed Print

Negative ads are unavoidable during election season, but this year mailboxes and airwaves seemed even more crowded with political attacks than usual. Non-candidate spending on communications advocating the election or defeat of particular candidates reached nearly $400 million this cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog organization. That's nearly 60 percent higher than the $268 million spent on the 2006 midterm elections. As a result of a series of recent Supreme Court cases dealing with campaign finance, non-candidate entities like party committees, special interest groups, and political action committees could raise and spend unlimited money on these communications, known as "independent expenditures." These expenditures can go toward advertising on TV, radio, and the Internet, as well as phone banks, canvassing, and mailings. But voters in some districts saw the effects of the new campaign finance rules more than others. Voters in Colorado and Pennsylvania were perhaps the most inundated with ads opposing particular candidates. The Senate candidates in those two states were the top four most-attacked candidates of the 2010 midterm election cycle, as measured in dollars spent on independent expenditures opposing them. In House races, the Rust Belt region saw the most money spent on these political messages--seven of the ten most-attacked House candidates were from districts in Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

Below are the ten most-attacked Senate and House candidates of the 2010 election cycle.

SENATE

Name	State	Party	Incumbent/Challenger/Open	Amount Spent	Won/Lost
Ken Buck	CO	R	Challenger	$11,812,559	Lost
Michael Bennet	CO	D	Incumbent	10,790,972	Won
Joe Sestak	PA	D	Open	10,703,014	Lost
Pat Toomey	PA	R	Open	10,430,022	Won
Alexander Giannoulias	IL	D	Open	8,508,180	Lost
Patty Murray	WA	D	Incumbent	8,012,545	Won
Harry Reid	NV	D	Incumbent	7,174,629	Won
Dino Rossi	WA	R	Challenger	7,021,145	Lost
Mark Kirk	IL	R	Open	6,018,115	Won
Sharron Angle	NV	R	Challenger	4,452,584	Lost

HOUSE

Name	State	District	Party	Incumbent/Challenger/Open	Amount Spent	Won/Lost
Tim Walberg	MI	7	R	Challenger	$3,841,050	Won
James Renacci	OH	16	R	Challenger	3,614,612	Won
Gary Peters	MI	9	D	Incumbent	2,817,837	Won
Joe Heck	NV	3	R	Challenger	2,654,520	Won
John Boccieri	OH	16	D	Incumbent	2,447,059	Lost
Harold Johnson	NC	8	R	Challenger	2,379,327	Lost
Mark Schauer	MI	7	D	Incumbent	2,331,467	Lost
Michael Fitzpatrick	PA	8	R	Challenger	2,263,970	Won
Gary McDowell	MI	1	D	Open	2,217,679	Lost
John Spratt	SC	5	D	Incumbent	2,164,512	Lost

Based on U.S. News analysis of data obtained from the Federal Election Commission on November 4, 2010. Data does not reflect independent expenditures made in special elections.