Outside groups have now spent more than $400 million to influence elections this cycle, data collected from the Federal Election Commission show, a figure that dwarfs the amount spent by this point in the 2012 election.

These outside groups include not only super PACs and 527 organizations, which must disclose their donors, but also 501(c) nonprofit groups, which aren’t required to do so. Together, they’ve spent about $403 million — a 175 percent increase over the almost $146 million such groups had spent by this time in June 2012.

Not surprisingly, super PACs have driven the spending. With about $341 million in independent expenditures so far, they account for about 84 percent of all outside spending — roughly the same share as at this point in the last presidential cycle. Then, super PAC spending made up 81 percent of all political expenditures by outside groups.

Despite the huge sums they have spent already, super PACs have have held onto nearly half of the $755 million they have raised so far. So in addition to whatever they can raise in the coming months, they have a $414 million hoard to unleash before the Nov. 8 elections.

Though record-breaking, the growth in outside spending this year has slowed somewhat from its breakneck pace of earlier this spring, when it jumped $100 million in just six weeks. That’s mainly because the presidential primary season has drawn to a close — nearly every major candidate had at least one super PAC backing him or her, including almost all of the (at one time) 17 GOP hopefuls.

Two candidates, backed by Republican establishment donors and desperate to beat eventual Republican nominee Donald Trump, set the stage for the highest spending by any two groups. Right to Rise USA, the super PAC supporting former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, infamously burned through nearly $87 million before Bush’s campaign tanked in late February. And the pro-Marco Rubio Conservative Solutions PAC spent $55 million before the Florida senator dropped out in mid-March.

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Megadonors continue to fund outside spending at record levels this cycle.

Robert Mercer has donated the most reported money to outside spending groups this cycle, all to super PACs. Mercer has donated $16.7 million so far, personally accounting for 2.2 percent of the total amount super PACs have raised. Most of that went to super PACs supporting Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) before he dropped his White House bid early last month.

Left-wing billionaire Tom Steyer comes in second with about $13 million. Steyer made his money at Farallon Capital, but is now on the board of Next Generation, the environmental nonprofit group he founded. Steyer has directed almost all of his donations to NextGen Climate Action, the organization’s super PAC, which, according to its website, seeks to elect a “climate champion to the White House in 2016.”

But while we know where much of the money comes from, $37 million of the funds spent to influence the election so far this cycle, according to CRP data, has come from undisclosed sources. Political nonprofits dealing in “dark money” have spent millions on TV ads and direct mail without disclosing their donors. Their total outlays are likely much higher — dark money groups can also buy air time for “issue ads” and engage in other political activity that often doesn’t have to be reported.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a conservative 501(c)(6) business trade group, has spent more than any other dark money organization, almost $14 million. The Chamber has devoted its funds so far to supporting 12 Republicans in Senate and House races, and attacking five Democrats. So far, the organization has spent $350,000 backing Sen. John McCain (R–Ariz.) and $300,000 against his challenger, Democrat . But the group has poured the most funds into the fight between Sen. Pat Toomey (R–Pa) and his Democratic challenger Katie McGinty — $3.7 million, about equally divided between pro-Toomey and anti-McGinty efforts.



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