Outside groups poured over $57 million into Maryland’s congressional races during the 2024 cycle – over five times more than any prior election, according to FEC data that stretches back two decades.
The vast majority – 90% of it – was driven by the Senate race between Angela Alsobrooks and Larry Hogan, and totaled about $52 million.
Maryland’s previous record was $11 million across all congressional races during the 2016 election.
These numbers do not include outside spending on presidential candidates, which cannot be reliably calculated for individual states from publicly available data.
Outside spending, formally known as independent expenditures, represents spending by third parties to support or oppose a candidate and is made without coordination with any candidate’s own campaign.
The bulk of outside spending in Maryland came from super PACs – organizations that can receive and spend unlimited sums of money from corporations, labor unions, individuals, and other political action committees.
According to Matt Foster, a professor at American University’s School of Public Affairs, independent expenditures aren’t generally tied to quid pro quo relationships between candidates and the outside groups behind that spending.
Foster said that the spending typically comes from groups seeking to support candidates they believe already support their interests – or trying to defeat a candidate who is fiercely opposed.
That is more often the case than groups “trying to buy the existing candidates’ influence,” according to Foster.
Even still, “money has influence,” Foster said. “Money has [a] voice.”
This year’s record-breaking outside spending was accompanied by an even larger sum raised by Senate candidates themselves.
Most of the over $105 million raised by candidates’ campaigns came from David Trone, who bankrolled his unsuccessful primary campaign with $62 million of his own money according to data from OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan research organization that tracks money in politics.
Although Alsobrooks’ campaign far outspent Hogan’s according to OpenSecrets – about $25 million to $9 million – outside spending helped close that gap slightly.
The perceived competitiveness of the Senate race – and the fundraising difference between Hogan and Alsobrooks’ campaigns – helps explain the massive amount of outside spending that poured into the race.
“A lot of times, outside spending tries to bridge a gap for competitive elections,” Foster said.
Hogan – who lost the election to Alsobrooks by nearly 12 points – benefitted from over $29 million in independent expenditures during the general election, compared to about $19.5 million for Alsobrooks.
Nearly $3 million more went toward aiding Alsobrooks’ primary efforts against Trone for the Democratic nomination.
Despite consistent polling showing Alsobrooks maintained a significant lead over Hogan, Foster said there were still hopes that the former governor’s popularity could convince a large enough swath of voters to buck the state’s Democratic leanings.
That, in turn, helped fuel the surge in outside spending in the race.
Foster said that although the gap separating the candidates would normally have been too large to warrant much thought, with Hogan “there was this belief that it might be squishy enough where maybe that could be a difference.”
The pro-Hogan super PAC Maryland’s Future poured $27 million into the election – the most outside spending of any group in Maryland, all of which was spent during the final weeks of the election from mid-September onwards.
Hogan also benefited from an additional $2.2 million in outside spending from six other groups, including the National Association of Home Builders and the Carey committee (a hybrid PAC/super PAC) of former U.N. ambassador and National Security Advisor John Bolton.
Alsobrooks’ largest outside spenders came from WinSenate, a super PAC that aims to elect Democrats to the Senate nationwide, and Women Vote, an affiliate of EMILYs List that supports pro-choice Democratic female candidates.
The two organizations spent a combined $18 million across her primary and general election, all of which were on independent expenditures attacking Hogan or Trone.
Another 23 groups – including Gov. Wes Moore’s super PAC, labor unions, and organizations that focus on mobilizing voters of color – reported independent expenditures that assisted Alsobrooks’ campaign efforts.
Mike Scott, Libertarian candidate for Senate, also received a boost from the super PAC Save Western Culture, which spent over $240,000 in the race – all from mid-October onwards.
Scott ended the race with only 2.3% of the vote.
Although total independent expenditures in House races were much smaller in comparison, outside spending in that category still amounted to millions of dollars.
United Democracy Project (UPD), the super PAC of pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC, almost single handedly made Maryland’s 3rd Congressional District the top House target for independent expenditures. UDP spent over $4 million supporting Rep.-elect Sarah Kelly Elfreth’s primary bid.
Its decision to pour so much money into the race has been described as “one of the great mysteries of this election cycle” by nonprofit news site Maryland Matters since Elfreth’s main opponent, Harry Dunn, was seen as comparably pro-Israel.
Maryland’s most competitive congressional race this year was a contest between Republican Neil Parrott and Democrat April McClain Delaney in Maryland’s 6th District.
McClain Delaney benefitted from over $250,000 in outside spending during the general election compared to about $190,000 for Parrott. That gap only added to Parrott’s more significant disadvantage against his opponent’s ability to loan her own campaign millions of dollars.
More than $530,000 of additional independent expenditures were spent toward Joe Vogel’s unsuccessful primary effort against McClain Delaney in the 6th District.
Nearly all of the independent expenditures in Maryland’s 2nd Congressional District came from Protect Progress, a super PAC promoting cryptocurrency and blockchain interests. The group funneled about $200,000 toward the final days of Rep.-elect Johnny Olszewski’s successful primary efforts, which he won handily with over 78% of the vote.