The race for the California governorship was record-breaking.
How much does the path to power cost?
The expenses of candidates in the Republican primaries in Kentucky on May 19 became the most expensive in the history of preliminary Congressional elections in the United States. According to the analytical company AdImpact, total spending reached nearly $33 million, as reported by RTVI US's "On Duty in America."
But this is far from a record amount.
One of the most expensive campaigns in U.S. history was associated with the New Jersey gubernatorial election in 2005. The race featured Democrat Jon Corzine and Republican Doug Forrester. Total campaign expenses amounted to about $73 million, while the overall cost of organizing the elections was $145.2 million.
However, the most expensive race was the 2010 California gubernatorial election, which cost nearly $250 million. At that time, Democrat Jerry Brown and Republican Meg Whitman were vying for the position of Arnold Schwarzenegger. She spent about $140 million of her own money on the campaign, which also set a record.
The costs of the California gubernatorial race were surpassed by the special election for the U.S. Senate from Georgia in 2020-2021. The total expenses of this campaign amounted to about $363 million.
The historical record for election spending currently stands at $3.5 billion, which was spent by Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. If we include funds from party committees and other groups, the total amount raised for the elections was $4.2 billion.
