BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The Lehigh Valley's congressional district proved to be one of the costliest U.S. House races in the country this year, racking up more than $38.2 million in expenses, according to a campaign finance tracker.
OpenSecrets.org found the same went for Pennsylvania's hyper-competitive U.S. Senate race, which cost a whopping $334 million. Its findings are based off filings with the Federal Election Commission; the deadline for candidates to file their post-election forms was Thursday.
Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District race between Democratic incumbent Susan Wild and Republican challenger Ryan Mackenzie was the 10th most expensive in the nation, the nonprofit determined. Mackenzie ultimately edged out a 1 percentage point victory in the toss-up district.
"Wow," said Chris Borick, a professor of political science at Muhlenberg College, when informed of the latest campaign totals Friday. "I'm not a big hyperbole guy, but that number deserves hyperbole."
Borick knew going into the election cycle that 2024 would be another high-spending year and that winning PA-7 was a top priority for both political parties. But $38.2 million is an extraordinary figure for a district that isn't a major metropolitan area, he said. By comparison, the nation's most expensive race cost $50.3 million in California's battleground 45th House District in Orange and Los Angeles counties.
He believed the price tag was likely driven by the overall political environment. Politicians up and down the ballot and their allies were vying to get onto the airwaves across the battleground state. President-elect Donald Trump went so far as to pay for national ads just for the chance to reach voters in the Keystone State, Borick said.
"Everybody was fighting for space. And when everybody is fighting for space, it all costs more."Chris Borick, political science professor, Muhlenberg College
"Everybody was fighting for space. And when everybody is fighting for space, it all costs more," Borick said.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate race between Democratic incumbent Bob Casey and Republican challenger Dave McCormick was the nation's second-most expensive U.S. Senate race. The top spot went to Ohio's U.S. Senate campaign between Republican challenger Bernie Moreno and Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown, which cost $421.5 million. Both Senate races were viewed as some of the most competitive in the country. Republicans flipped both seats on their way to regaining control of the upper chamber.
The price of the Senate race was lower compared to Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate race in 2022, which cost $346.2 million. Unlike this year's race, the 2022 campaign featured two crowded primaries before then-Lt. Gov. John Fetterman defeated talk show host Dr. Mehmet Oz in the general election.
Borick said the costs of campaigns have skyrocketed in the last decade, perhaps to levels unhealthy for democracy. A U.S. Senate race never cost more than $100 million before 2014. Between 2012 and 2016, spending in Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate races went from $41.6 million to $170.9 million. The 2024 race nearly doubled what was a record-high amount in 2016.
"It's time we ask ourselves again as Americans if limits on speech — in terms of limits on spending on campaigns — is something the public would feel is a public good."Chris Borick
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in its 2009 Citizens United v. FEC ruling effectively killed all efforts to reign in campaign spending, Borick said. The ruling found that efforts to limit spending by corporations, nonprofits and other organizations illegally limited free speech. However, Borick noted that the country limits speech in other ways, such as obscenity, libel or yelling fire in a crowded theater.
"It's time we ask ourselves again as Americans if limits on speech — in terms of limits on spending on campaigns — is something the public would feel is a public good," Borick said.
PA-7 spending
Records show Wild, a South Whitehall Township attorney, raised $8.8 million in her bid to win one of the nation's most contested seats and spent all but $140,761 of it. More than $1.3 million of her fundraising came from small donors who contributed less than $200, according to OpenSecrets.org. Another $1.3 million were donations from political action committees directly to her campaign.
The top contributors to her campaign included:
J Street — $109,394
The Washington, D.C. organization supports candidates who are "firmly committed to pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy policies." It encourages donors to use its PAC to "stand together against right wing mega-donors." Individual donors can donate through J Street to approved candidates.
EMILY's List — $73,937
This Washington, D.C., political action committee supports Democratic women who support pro-choice policies. It boasts on its website of being one of the biggest financial backers of Democratic candidates.
DigiDems — $30,900
The California-based organization primarily pairs Democratic campaigns with tech and cyber security experts. It also runs a political action committee that supports Democrats, including the candidates in Pennsylvania's three swing districts.
Wild's campaign outspent Mackenzie's by more than 5-to-1, records show. Mackenzie, a state lawmaker from Lower Macungie Township, raised just over $1.7 million. Of that amount, $199,006 came from small donors. By comparison, $413,190 of his total came from political action committees.
According to OpenSecrets.org, his biggest donors were:
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania — $14,435
State employees are allowed to designate portions of their paychecks to be donated to federal candidates and political action committees of their choice. Under OpenSecrets.com's database, the donations appear under the state. A state official confirmed the state does not donate taxpayer money to political campaigns.
Sundance Vacations — $13,700
It appears that employees of the travel agency, whose closest location is King of Prussia, passed along $45,487 of their paychecks to political candidates this cycle. Most of those donations went to Republican congressional candidates, including U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, U.S. Representative-elect Rob Bresnahan and McCormick.
Montaire Farms — $13,200
The Delaware-based corporation is one of the nation's largest producers of chicken. Individuals at the company donated $18.3 million to federal political candidates and political action committees. About 99.9% of those donations went toward Republican candidates or conservative political action committees.
The majority of money spent in the campaign — $27 million — came from third-party organizations placing ads and running independent operations. These groups are prohibited under federal law from coordinating directly with campaigns. Of the $27 million, about $12.4 million benefited Mackenzie while the remaining $13.6 million supported Wild.
The single largest spender in the race was the Congressional Leadership Fund, a Super PAC closely linked to House Republicans, with $9.6 million. Mackenzie also benefitted from $1.3 million from Americans For Prosperity - Action, a Super PAC founded by conservative mega-donor Charles Koch.
Wild's biggest outside supporter was the House Majority PAC, the political action committee closely associated with Democratic House leadership. It pumped $7 million into the race. Project 218, a political action committee linked to the liberal organization American Bridge Research, contributed another $2.1 million.
The final $810,573 in the race was spent by Republicans Kevin Dellicker, Allen Issa, Maria Montero and their allies. Issa dropped out of the campaign before the primary while Dellicker and Montero lost to Mackenzie in the primary.
