Early voting has been underway for weeks ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, and a record $3.8 billion had already been spent on political advertisements as of October 12, according to AdImpact data cited in a Reuters explainer. Top spending is concentrated in the battleground Senate races in Texas, Ohio and Michigan.
Elon Musk alone has spent about $366 million to support Republicans, according to campaign finance records, making him the cycle's dominant outside spender. More than 100 million people are likely to cast ballots if turnout resembles the 2022 midterms, though midterms generally attract fewer voters than presidential races — more than 155 million votes were cast in the 2024 presidential election.
Republicans currently hold a 218-214 House majority and a 53-47 Senate majority, and Democrats must net four additional seats in each chamber to win control. Ten Senate races, including those in Maine, Ohio, North Carolina, Iowa and Georgia, could decide the outcome. The sheer scale of spending reflects how much is at stake: a Democratic House majority would bring subpoena power and investigations of the Trump administration, while Senate control would determine the fate of judicial and executive nominations.