The 2024 presidential election campaign was not a simple one. strangest campaign Our country has seen it too, and it has also most expensive political operation In history. This has pro-democracy advocates concerned that rising campaign costs are discouraging young people from running for office.
This year’s numbers are a sight to behold. President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have spent a combined $5.5 billion on the presidential race, but that spending explodes when you factor in congressional races and outside spending. Because of these races, the total amount spent on the 2024 election is staggering. $15.9 billionThat’s almost enough money to provide every child in America with free school meals for a year.
The cost of running for Congress has never been higher, and is actually rising faster than the cost of running for president. Young Americans trying to make the jump from local campaigns to federal office are increasingly blocked by multi-million dollar barriers to pay.
And longtime incumbents in both parties have no problem keeping things that way.
It is important to remember how much the cost of elections has increased over the past decade. Successful candidates for House of Representatives in 2013 had an average $1.6 million For privilege. In 2020, the price 2 million dollars. The total now stands at over $2.4 million. This narrows the pool of local candidates to politicians with significant donor networks or, more commonly, candidates with independent wealth who can finance their own campaigns.
Raise the alarm
Raising awareness among candidate recruitment agencies. run for somethingThis cycle, we trained and supported 191 winning candidates. Ross Morales Rocketto, the organization’s co-executive director, sees rising campaign costs as one reason Congress is becoming more and more like the communities it represents.
“In a system where the cost of running for office continues to rise, political power becomes increasingly concentrated in the hands of the wealthy and well-connected, while ordinary people who want to run and have valuable perspectives but lack financial resources are marginalized.” Morales Rocketto told me. “Our hope is to break down some of these barriers for young candidates by showing them that they can run for office even at the local level without having to raise millions of dollars.”
It’s a concern shared by the growing number of Millennial and Gen Z candidates running for office this year. Cheyenne Hunt, 26, who ran a primary campaign for California’s 45th Congressional District, shared her frustration with how the paid campaign system maintains the status quo.
“What has deeply disturbed me about this system is that there is a reason why almost everyone in Congress looks the same, comes from the same background, and comes from the same socioeconomic status.” spoke to Slate’s Shirin Ali.. “Because those people are in a situation where they can easily raise money through their personal networks.”
Fighting against billionaires and their money
A growing network of candidate training institutes is now working to break down these barriers, but it’s an uphill battle against record amounts of unaccountable corporate and billionaire money.
This is especially true when it comes to efforts to involve more women in the political process. Still, some groups, including she has to runEstablished in 2011, Emily Listwas founded in 1985 and has established itself as a successful organizer in this space. other, Emerge Americaoffers a variety of candidate training camps for women running for legislative or judicial office.
Politics has always been an exclusive game, but the bar has never been raised so high and so quickly in the years since the Supreme Court decision. civil union. Judge John Roberts’ decision to effectively unlock the floodgates of dark money in politics has forever changed the contours of what it takes to get elected, making it more difficult to oust long-serving incumbent politicians from power.
It’s about returning our politics to anything resembling what they were before.civil union The times will bring bold policy changes at the federal level. That seems unlikely in a Congress that could flip between Republican and Democratic control several times over the next four years.
Nonetheless, Morales Rocketto sees opportunities for gradual change through “expanding the public financing system” that already exists. Over 36 states “Reduce the cost of campaign tools” that modern teams rely on for almost every aspect of running a campaign.
That’s a tall order for a growing list of America’s billionaire megadonors who benefit from campaign finance’s outsized role in building political alliances and blocking reform. Top 50 largest donors nationwide More than $2.5 billion donated The 2024 cycle will see a flood of cash supporting Republicans by a 2-to-1 ratio.
different goals
For powerful conglomerates, less reliance on high donations and a larger constituency mean a system they cannot easily control. To lawmakers responsible for campaign finance law, a fairer election environment seems more like a threat to their jobs than a democratic necessity. To break down these entrenched interests, candidate recruitment organizations start from grassroots, regional offices.
“We target down-ballot races, which often have lower fundraising standards than high-profile federal races,” Morales Rocketto said. “These down-ballot locations are often more accessible to first-time candidates and can have a significant impact on their communities.” It also gives new candidates a platform to build constituencies and ultimately mount more ambitious campaigns for federal office.
We have already seen the impact that generational change can have on our national conversation. New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s unexpected election to the House of Representatives in 2018 sparked a wave of voter engagement and organizing among young people and non-white progressives.
By 2024, nearly one in four candidates running for Congress will be from the Millennial or Generation Z generation. While this is just a small sample of all the races that took place this year, it represents continued growth in the political representation of both generations. Unfortunately, these candidates lose at a higher rate than their predecessors. But if they win, it would bring real momentum for political change to an aging Congress.
Strong influence of generation representatives
In 2022, Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost became the first member of the Generation Z cohort elected to Congress. It wasn’t an easy road). The 27-year-old freshman lawmaker advocated for gun control reform, using graphic language from a generation scarred by the brutal and regular occurrences of school shootings.
Within a year, Frost authored legislation that led to the creation of the federal Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Now Frost’s approach has become a new national model, with 13 states adopting their own versions of the office and Minnesota discuss ideas.
As Frost’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention reminds us, a little bit of generational representation can have a powerful impact in places like Congress. It’s no surprise that the wealthiest Americans with the most power to lose are actively lobbying both parties to delay action on campaign finance reform. still ~can do You are done.
Morales Rocketto urges young candidates not to lose hope. “Too often young people feel they cannot afford huge financial costs, do not have access to the financing infrastructure they need to compete, or do not have the financial means to take time off from work to enjoy a full life. Committed to their campaign. “We are here to help all these young people.”
