Surging corporate spending in 2026 elections is a threat to democracy warns a US consumer advocacy organisation.
On 30 June the US Supreme Court’s right-wing supermajority struck down restrictions on political parties coordinating campaign spending with candidates. This ruling coincides with a new report from government watchdog Public Citizen that has revealed how “corporate supremacist” groups have already set records for spending in this year’s mid-term elections.
There are still more than four months to go until the general election, but according to The Rise of Corporate Supremacist Super PACs by research director Rick Claypool, this campaign cycle accounts for nearly one-third of all corporate political spending since the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC) ruling.
That decision has enabled corporations and groups including super political action committees (PACs) to spend unlimited money on elections, and in the 2026 cycle alone, they have already spent $517 million – “a figure sure to soar as the November general election approaches,” said Public Citizen.
“These totals reference disclosed political spending, not any contributions from dark money organisations that keep donors secret,” the group emphasised.
The amount spent this year by Big Tech, fossil fuel companies, the cryptocurrency industry and other sectors whose bottom lines could benefit from lax government regulations represents a sizeable chunk of the $1.58 billion that corporations have spent on federal elections since 2010.
The 2024 election cycle saw $461 million poured into campaigns by corporations, a sum that dwarfed previous corporate political spending.
Public Citizen’s report offered more evidence that the high court “has reorganised America for the worse,” said law professor Zephyr Teachout:
NEW @Public_Citizen report: Corporations have already spent $517 million on the 2026 midterms.
That’s more corporate money than any previous election cycle — and nearly 1/3 of all corporate political spending since Citizens United pic.twitter.com/UbTHZgOtkc
— Rick Claypool (@RickClaypool) June 30, 2026
Four industries – crypto, artificial intelligence, Big Tech and online betting companies – have spent $294 million collectively to influence the elections, said Public Citizen, accounting for 57 per cent of the corporate spending.
In 2024, the crypto sector pioneered the playbook corporations are using this year: “prioritising corporate priorities over parties or candidates and using their financial power to discipline sitting lawmakers and candidates”.
Political Action Committees (PACs), including the pro-AI Leading the Future and the sports betting industry-backed Win for America PAC, are some of the top recipients of the corporate case, taking $50.1 million and $43 million, respectively.
A Win for America spokesperson told Axios in April that the super PAC’s backers “seek candidates who will thoughtfully approach regulation and ensure legal sports betting can continue to support communities through billions in tax revenue and jobs across America,” while Josh Vlasto of the pro-crypto PAC Fairshake said in 2025 that the committee is “building an aggressive, targeted strategy for next year to ensure that pro-crypto voices are heard in key races across the country.”
Claypool said the report shows that “a decade and a half after Citizens United, corporations are starting to spend on politics like never before.”
“This corporate spending is a disaster for democracy,” he said. “If the current, broken campaign finance system remains unchallenged – and corporate spending is allowed to drown out the voices of real voters and real people – these corporate campaigns will keep multiplying, even as voting rights for individual Americans face escalating attacks.”
Behind the “corporate supremacist super PACs,” reads the report, the biggest beneficiary of corporate spending is the President Donald Trump-supporting MAGA Inc., which has received $120.6 million in direct contributions from companies including Crypto.com, UnitedHealthcare, and Energy Transfer Partners.
The report comes two weeks after campaigners in Montana announced they had collected signatures that far exceeded the minimum requirement to force a statewide vote on a ballot measure that, if passed, would block corporations from pouring money into elections.
“Time and time again, Americans have demonstrated they want elected officials who are willing to stand up for them against the powerful and predatory corporations that attempt to dominate our daily lives,” reads the Public Citizen report. “Lawmakers can demonstrate their fearlessness and independence from corporate influence by passing legislation that empowers the public while reducing the influence of Big Business demands to prioritise profit-maximization over Americans’ health, safety, and democracy.”
The group called on Congress to pass the “Abolish Super PACs Act, the DISCLOSE Act, and, ultimately, a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United.”
“The intense escalation of corporate spending we are now seeing,” concludes the report, “shows that it is well past time for salvaging American democracy to be treated with the urgency that it deserves.”
Republished from Common Dreams
Julia Conley
Julia Conley is a staff writer for Common Dreams.