The Constituent Institute Bought and paid for Agenda

The Constituent Agenda · Democracy

Bought & paid for.

The 2024 federal elections cost about $15.9 billion, the most in American history. A tiny share of Americans supplies most of it. Scroll through where the money comes from, what it buys, and how to give power back to voters.

8 chapters · every figure sourced · October 2026

Begin the story

01 · The price

A record-breaking bill for democracy.

The 2024 federal elections, in stacks of cash

Total costOutside groupsDark moneyBillionaire families

Each bill in the stacks is $500 million

$15.9 billion

The 2024 presidential and congressional races cost about $15.9 billion, topping the previous record of $15.1 billion set in 2020.

OpenSecrets, via PBS NewsHour

$4.5 billion

Outside groups such as super PACs spent a record $4.5 billion. More than half of it came from groups that do not fully disclose where their money comes from.

OpenSecrets, 2025

$1.9 billion

Dark money, spending whose original donors stay hidden, hit a record $1.9 billion, nearly double the $1 billion record set in 2020. Only about $43 million of it was reported directly to the Federal Election Commission.

Brennan Center for Justice, May 2025

150 families

Just 150 billionaire families put about $1.9 billion into 2024 federal campaigns by late October, up from $1.2 billion from all billionaires in 2020. About 72% backed Republicans and 22% backed Democrats.

Americans for Tax Fairness, October 2024 (an interim tally)

02 · The rules

One ruling opened the floodgates.

In Citizens United v. FEC (January 2010), the Supreme Court ruled that corporations and unions could spend unlimited sums on elections, as long as they did not coordinate with candidates. Within months, a lower court applied that logic to create the super PAC.

$250M+spent by Elon Musk alone in the 2024 cycle, much of it through his own super PAC.

That is more than 71,000 times the most an individual can give a candidate in an election. In a system with no ceiling for the richest donors, everyone else's voice gets quieter.

Reporting on FEC filings, December 2024. Musk's final total varies by source, from about $250 million to $288 million.

03 · The donors

A sliver of America funds the rest.

Of every 1,000 Americans, those who gave $200 or more

0.52%of the U.S. population gave $200 or more to candidates, parties or PACs in 2016.

Those larger gifts made up about two-thirds of the value of all donations. The people who fund campaigns are far wealthier than the people who vote in them, and lawmakers know exactly who they are.

Center for Responsive Politics (now OpenSecrets), via PolitiFact

04 · Who gets heard

The donors get their way.

Political scientists Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page compared public preferences with what Washington actually did on 1,779 policy questions.

Economic elitesThe wealthiest Americans
Substantial influence
Business interest groupsIndustry and trade associations
Substantial influence
Mass-based interest groupsGroups representing large memberships
Little or none
Average citizensThe median American voter
Little or none

The study found that economic elites and business groups had substantial independent impact on federal policy, while average citizens had little or no independent influence.

Ordinary Americans often get the policies they want, but mostly when the wealthy want the same thing. When the two disagree, the wealthy usually win.

Gilens and Page, Testing Theories of American Politics, Perspectives on Politics, 2014. The authors note their model is imperfect and that elite and public views often overlap.

05 · The call time

The real job is dialing for dollars.

When new House Democrats arrived in Washington in 2013, their party handed them a model daily schedule. Fundraising came first.

Model daily schedule for new members, in hours

Call time4 Outreach1 Committee & floor2 Voters1 Recharge1
Start of day9 hours

Tap or hover a block to see what it is for.

DCCC orientation presentation for incoming members, reported by HuffPost and the Boston Globe, 2013

2×as much time raising money as legislating in committee and on the floor, according to the party's own model day.

Every hour on the phone with a donor is an hour not spent with constituents, reading bills or doing oversight. Lawmakers who refuse corporate PAC money still have to raise money, which is why public financing matters.

The turn

Make voters the donors.

You cannot out-raise billionaires with $25 checks, unless public money multiplies them. Cities that tried it saw more donors, more candidates and campaigns that answer to their own neighbors.

06 · The fix

Let voters fund the campaigns.

New York City's small-donor match

$25from you
$225to the campaign

The city matches $8 for every $1 a resident gives, on the first $250 for citywide races ($175 for City Council). Each bill above is $25. Nothing you choose here is saved or sent.

Seattle's Democracy Vouchers

Every registered voter gets four $25 vouchers each cycle to give to the city candidates they choose. A peer-reviewed study found about 350% more donors per race, 86% more candidates, and far less success for incumbents.

Griffith and Noonen, Journal of Public Economics, 2022 · University of Washington

In Congress

73 members of the 118th Congress refused corporate PAC money, up from 56 in the 116th. The pledge is growing. The laws have not caught up.

End Citizens United tracking, via Roll Call

The Constituent agenda for democracy

  • Overturn Citizens United with a constitutional amendment so Congress and the states can limit election spending again.
  • Small-donor public financing for federal races, so small gifts from voters are matched with public funds.
  • End dark money by requiring every group that spends on elections to disclose its real donors.
  • Ban corporate PAC and lobbyist contributions to federal candidates.
  • Close the revolving door with long lobbying bans for former members and senior staff.

None of this requires new money. It requires leaders who are not afraid of losing the old money. That is who The Constituent Institute was built to serve.

See who funds us How NYC's match works

07 · The mandate

Americans agree: there should be limits.

Say there should be limits on how much individuals and groups can spend on campaigns

Democrats
76%
Republicans
71%
All adults
72%

Pew Research Center survey of 8,480 adults, July 2023

80%of Americans say large campaign donors have too much influence on what members of Congress decide.

Just 11% say people and groups should be able to spend as much as they want. And 58% believe laws could effectively reduce the role of money in politics. The public is ready. The question is whether Congress will act against its own donors.

Pew Research Center, 2023

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