| For Immediate Release January 3, 2005 |
Contact: | Bob Biersack George Smaragdis |
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| CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGNS SPEND $912 MILLION THROUGH LATE NOVEMBER |
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| WASHINGTON -- Congressional candidates participating in the November 2, 2004 general election raised $985.4 million and spent $911.8 million, according to a compilation by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) from financial reports covering from January 1, 2003 through November 22, 2004 . These figures represent an increase of 20% in receipts and 18% in spending over the comparable period in 2002. Candidates in special elections spent an additional $8.2 million in 2003 and 2004, and candidates who lost in primaries reported $197 million in spending through September 30, 2004 . All campaigns will file year-end reports covering the remainder of 2002 at the end of January. Senate candidates participating in the 2004 general election raised $371.6 million and spent $360.2 million. These totals each were 32% higher than in 2002. Comparisons across election cycles are particularly difficult for Senate races because the states involved vary. In addition, a few campaigns can significantly affect totals. For example, in 2004, there were Senate campaigns in several large states that typically are more expensive. California , New York , and Pennsylvania had incumbents seeking reelection, and there were open seat races in Florida and Illinois . House general election candidate fundraising increased 14% over 2002 levels to a total of $613.8 million. Spending by these candidates totaled $551.7 million, up 10%. This growth is found mainly among Republican candidates whose fundraising increased by 24% since 2002 with spending up by 20%. Fundraising by Democratic House candidates, by contrast, increased by 3%, while their spending rose only 1%. Both the number of open seat candidates and their financial activity declined for Democrats and Republicans in 2004. Tables that follow, however, show that median receipts grew in 2004 for all types of House campaigns except Democratic candidates in open seat races. Contributions from individuals totaled $613 million and continue to be the largest source of receipts for Congressional candidates, representing 62% of all fundraising as of November 22. PAC contributions totaled $288.6 million or 29%, while candidates themselves contributed or loaned a total of $39.4 million, which was 4% of all receipts. Contributions from individuals grew by 36% when compared with the same time period in the 2002 campaign, while PAC contributions increased by 12% and contributions and loans from candidates themselves were 44% lower than 2002 totals. Campaigns also showed a slightly larger reliance on contributions in excess of $200 from individuals. Those changes were not large, however, in the first election cycle during which the legal limit on individual contributions to candidates was doubled under the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA). The general pattern of financial activity in 2004 campaigns can also be seen in the overall totals for general election winners:
Apart from spending by campaigns themselves, individuals and groups, including parties and PACs, spent an additional $129.7 million advocating the election or defeat of Congressional candidates through November 22, 2004, without coordinating with the campaigns. Party committees accounted for 89% of these independent expenditures ($116.1 million). Independent expenditures in 2002 Congressional races totaled only $18.8 million, of which only $3.7 million were made by parties. Prior to the passage of BCRA, parties were permitted to use a mix of federal (hard) and nonfederal (soft) money for generic activities, some of which included advertising that referred to federal candidates without advocating their election. Under BCRA, national parties are prohibited from raising or spending nonfederal funds, and no soft money can be used by parties for federal election activity. National and state parties are also permitted to make limited expenditures on behalf of general election candidates in coordination with the campaigns. These expenditures totalled $26.7 million through late November, compared with $20.4 million in coordinated expenditures in 2002. Tables included here list totals for these expenditures in each Senate or House race where at least $5,000 was spent outside the campaigns. Other tables attached to this release (see links below) offer summary data for Senate and House candidates by political party, as well as by candidate status (incumbent, challenger, or open seat). Also included are rankings of Senate and House candidates for the following categories: receipts, individual contributions, PAC and other committee contributions, contributions and loans from the candidate, disbursements, cash-on-hand, and debts owed. Six-year financial summaries of Senate candidates for 2004, as well as current-cycle financial summaries for each House campaign are also attached.
Footnotes
8. Party abbreviations in the listing of House campaigns are:
Tables Files marked [ excel ] can be read using Microsoft Excel available from Microsoft and those marked [ pdf ] can be reader using Acrobat Reader available from Adobe.
House Campaigns by State and District [ excel ] [ pdf ] ###
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