Why Super PACs have more power than ever in elections
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What is the impact of unlimited spending in elections?
Hey, Lulu here. Whether we are romping through science, music, politics, technology, or feelings, we seek to leave you seeing the world anew. Radiolab adventures right on the edge of what we think we know, wherever you get podcasts.
You already know the person who spent the most money supporting President Trump's campaign in 2024. His name is Elon Musk. You might remember him showing up at Trump rallies. Come on up here, Elad. Jumping awkwardly around on stage.
Take over, Elad, yes, take over.
But behind the scenes, he'd spend more than $291 million to support President Trump's win. And we had one president who couldn't climb a flight of stairs. And another who was fist-pumping after getting shot. Shortly after the election, Musk was tapped by Trump to lead Doge, which would slash government spending and jobs, which he represented once by pretending to fire up a chainsaw at the conservative CPAC convention.
This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy. Chainsaw!
Who are the major players influencing campaign finance today?
Musk was the biggest spender by far. But he wasn't the only billionaire trying to influence the elections. About $15 billion was spent in 2024. And what raised eyebrows was the relatively short list of the ultra-rich people who spent it.
Some major donors and billionaires have made public pushes for candidates this election cycle. So when it comes to following the money, there is a whole lot of it to keep track of in this race.
Several high profile billionaires are dumping massive amounts of money into the presidential race. Fast forward to today. The 2026 midterm elections are already shaping up to be the most costly in American history, part of a trend over the last several decades where the amount of money spent on elections has mostly been going up. So we wanted to look at one moment, a big moment, that seemed to open the financial floodgates.
I am. I'm tired of people who say that if you debate and you disagree with this administration, somehow you're not patriotic.
In the lead up to the 2008 presidential election, it looked like at the time that Hillary was the front runner for the Democratic nomination. This is Michael King. He's a law professor at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. Citizens United wanted to run a documentary that told all kinds of stories that they felt were important to tell about Hillary Clinton. You might have heard of Citizens United, the plaintiff ever since its 2010 Supreme Court case. But Citizens United had for years been a conservative nonprofit that made media supporting Republicans and critical of Democrats. And their film, Hillary the Movie, had a strong narrative. Generally that she was kind of an awful person. She's driven by the power.
Would be a terrible candidate. She does not answer questions. Disaster in all kinds of ways. She is the expert of not saying what she believes. So they produced this documentary. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Could she become the first female president in the history of the United States? It wasn't designed to make a lot of money. It was designed to be seen. And they wanted to distribute that movie through video on demand. Their goal at the outset was not to change campaign finance law. They just wanted to be able to show their movie. Citizens United wanted to run their movie on cable TV and air ads for it on broadcast TV close to the 2008 presidential primary election. But the Federal Elections Commission opposed them.
Laws banned these kinds of political ads from running 30 days before the primaries. Hillary the movie would never air. But when Citizens United took the case to court, they said, why couldn't they show their film when... General Electric, National Public Radio, or George Soros may freely broadcast. The result of that case would completely change the American political system.
Today, the Supreme Court struck down federal legislation that restricts how corporations can spend their money in political campaigns. The Court's 5-4 decision opened the floodgates for corporate and undisclosed dark money to pour into the election process.
Since the Citizens United case in 2010, the amount of money being spent in elections has skyrocketed.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the impact of unlimited spending in elections?
0:00–1:23
2
Who are the major players influencing campaign finance today?
1:23–7:09
3
What was the significance of the Citizens United case?
7:09–10:42
4
How did campaign finance laws evolve in the 20th century?
10:42–27:25
5
What role do super PACs play in modern elections?
27:25–50:15
6
How do super PACs influence local elections differently?
50:15–51:06