Money and Democracy

Published — November 2, 2012

Did super PAC attacks make a difference in 2012 election?

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A 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision opened the door to unlimited spending on elections. Did all that money have an impact on who won?
Here are the 10 most popular general elections in the U.S. Senate and House among super PACs and nonprofits and the results of those elections.

(Results through 10 a.m. ET Thursday on races called by AP.)

NATIONAL

Rank Race Name Total outside spending** % Negative Candidate spending Winner
1 President Barack Obama (D)*
Mitt Romney (R)		 $141.5 million
$408.5 million		 68.9%
80.5%		 $540.8 million
$336.4 million		 Obama

SENATE

Rank Race Name Total outside spending** % Negative Candidate spending Winner
1 Virginia Tim Kaine (D)
George Allen (R)		 $21 million
$29.8 million		 88.6%
93.9%		 $18.6 million
$11.5 million		 Kaine
2 Wisconsin Tammy Baldwin (D)
Tommy Thompson (R)		 $21.6 million
$18.2 million		 87.6%
85.5%		 $11.7 million
$6 million		 Baldwin
3 Ohio Sherrod Brown (D)*
Josh Mandel (R)		 $14 million
$20.7 million		 84.3%
80.0%		 $19.5 million
$12.9 million		 Brown
4 Indiana Joe Donnelly (D)
Richard Mourdock (R)		 $12 million
$16.3 million		 95.9%
74.6%		 $3.8 million
$6.8 million		 Donnelly
5 Nevada Shelley Berkley (D)
Dean Heller (R)*		 $14.6 million
$13.1 million		 90.7%
94.0%		 $10.2 million
$7.6 million 		Heller
6 Montana Jon Tester (D)*
Denny Rehberg (R)		 $12.8 million
$11.9 million		 87.3%
97.0%		 $11.6 million
$7.2 million		 Tester
7 Arizona Richard Carmona (D)
Jeff Flake (R)		 $8.6 million
$11.7 million		 98.4%
68.6%		 $4.3 million
$6.7 million		 Flake
8 Florida Bill Nelson (D)*
Connie Mack (R)		 $4.8 million
$15.2 million		 76.2%
64.0%		 $12.5 million
$6.3 million		 Nelson
9 North Dakota Heidi Heitkamp (D)
Rick Berg (R)		 $8.5 million
$7.6 million		 88.1%
78.0%		 $4.1 million
$4.7 million		 Heitkamp
10 Missouri Claire McCaskill (D)*
Todd Akin (R)		 $8.2 million
$2.8 million		 81.2%
40.0%		 $17.4 million
$4.6 million 		McCaskill

* incumbent

HOUSE

Rank Race Name Total outside spending** % Negative Candidate spending Winner
1 PA-12 Mark Critz (D)*
Keith Rothfus (R)		 $4.1 million
$6 million		 76.4%
76.3%		 $2.1 million
$1.5 million		 Rothfus
2 OH-16 Betty Sue Sutton (D)
Jim Renacci (R)*		 $5.2 million
$4.6 million		 96.6%
97.0%		 $1.6 million
$2.5 million		 Renacci
3 MN-8 Rick Nolan (D)
Chip Cravaack (R)*		 $5.1 million
$3.9 million		 90.8%
95.2%		 $536,000
$1.2 million		 Nolan
4 IL-17 Cheri Bustos (D)
Bobby Schilling (R)*		 $4.3 million
$4.6 million		 94.3%
95.6%		 $1.4 million
$1.9 million		 Bustos
5 CA-7 Ami Bera (D)
Dan Lungren (R)*		 $5.3 million
$2.9 million		 90.0%
99.2%		 $2.7 million
$1.7 million		 Bera
6 CA-52 Scott Peters (D)
Brian Bilbray (R)*		 $3.6 million
$4.6 million		 97.0%
87.1%		 $3.5 million
$2.1 million		 Peters
7 CA-10 Jose Hernandez (D)
Jeff Denham (R)*		 $3.6 million
$4.4 million		 93.4%
97.5%		 $1.4 million
$2.2 million 		Denham
8 TX-23 Pete Gallego (D)
Francisco Canseco (R)*		 $4.5 million
$2.8 million		 94.2%
95.5%		 $1.5 million
$1.9 million		 Gallego
9 IL-12 Williams Enyart (D)
Jason Plummer (R)		 $3.2 million
$4.2 million		 88.5%
95.3%		 $733,000
$903,000		 Enyart
10 IL-11 Bill Foster (D)
Judy Biggert (R)*		 $2.5 million
$4.7 million 		99.5%
71.1%		 $1.8 million
$1.7 million 		Foster

* incumbent

** Total represents combination of outside spending supporting candidate and outside spending opposing candidate’s opponent.


Source: Center for Responsive Politics, Federal Election Commission, Center for Public Integrity analysis. Expenditure totals for 2012 election through Nov. 5. Candidate spending totals through Oct. 17.

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