The regulated are now the biggest donors: $517m of corporate money into the 2026 midterms

US companies put at least $517 million into House and Senate contests over the 15 months through the first quarter, according to data from Public Citizen, more than the $461 million corporations spent across the entire two-year 2024 cycle ^[1][2]. Crypto, tech and online gaming groups supplied at least $294 million of that figure ^[3], which means the sectors with the most exposure to federal rulemaking are now also the largest single source of corporate money aimed at the people who do the rulemaking.

The pace matters more than the headline. On a monthly basis, $517 million over 15 months works out to roughly $34 million, against about $19 million a month in 2024, a rate about 1.8 times higher ^[5]. Public Citizen's report attributes the record to crypto, artificial intelligence and online betting firms ^[6], and more corporate cash is expected before voting on November 3, when Democrats will try to take both chambers ^[23][24].

The plumbing is worth stating plainly, because it determines what is knowable. Companies and founders can fund super PACs, affiliated PACs, and nonprofits that do not have to name their donors, and some fund several layers at once while also giving to individual politicians ^[8]. Super PACs face no fundraising cap but cannot hand money to candidates or coordinate with them; they buy ads, pay for turnout operations and fund rallies ^[7]. Personal cheques sit on top of the corporate total: Elon Musk has spent over $90 million in federal races this cycle ^[9], Alphabet co-founder Sergey Brin over $106 million in California alone, including against the state wealth tax ^[10], and Meta has put $65 million into four super PACs backing both Democratic and Republican candidates in state races in California, Texas, Illinois and elsewhere ^[11].

Crypto's vehicle is the clearest case of a sector buying down its own regulatory risk. Fairshake entered 2026 with $193 million and still had about $130 million in election records, implying roughly $63 million already deployed ^[12][13]. Coinbase, Ripple and Andreessen Horowitz supplied nearly all of it ^[14]. Andreessen Horowitz alone has given more than $81 million to PACs focused mostly on crypto and AI, of which at least $23.8 million went to Fairshake, according to federal campaign records reviewed by Reuters ^[15]; that leaves about $57 million placed elsewhere in the network ^[16].

The deterrent effect is the asset, not the ad buy. Fairshake's spending in Ohio helped end the career of Democratic senator Sherrod Brown ^[17], and Public Citizen has described the group as a corporate "Death Star" capable of annihilating individual candidates ^[18]. The model is deliberately non-partisan: back whoever supports the policy, target whoever does not with multimillion-dollar outside campaigns ^[19]. Brown, once the sector's loudest critic as Senate Banking chair, has softened his position while seeking re-election, and his campaign director Patrick Eisenhauer says he understands that cryptocurrency is part of America's economy ^[20].

For scale, AdImpact expects political advertising to reach a record $11.6 billion this cycle, above the $11.2 billion of 2023-2024 ^[21]. The corporate $517 million is only about 4 percent of that ^[22], but it is concentrated in a handful of races where a single industry's regulatory perimeter is being set.

Watch the $130 million Fairshake has not spent ^[12], and whether it goes into primaries or is held for general-election threats. Watch the crypto-to-AI mix inside Andreessen Horowitz's PAC giving ^[15]. And watch how much of the next tranche moves through nonprofits that never file a donor list ^[8].