Early scorecard, as of Wednesday morning, Nov. 4, 2026. Race calls below are network or Associated Press projections. The Senate races in Alaska and Mississippi and several dozen House races had not been called when this was published. We will update this page as calls come in and again after the post-general FEC reports due Dec. 3.
The 2026 midterms were the most expensive in U.S. history, and outside groups paid for much of it. By early October, super PACs and other outside groups had spent close to $2 billion on federal races, with conservative groups outspending liberal ones by roughly $1.1 billion to $727 million, according to OpenSecrets. Then Democrats won control of both the House and the Senate on Tuesday night, flipping Republican-held Senate seats in Texas, Ohio, Iowa, South Carolina, Maine, North Carolina and Kansas.
That combination makes this one of the worst nights on record for big outside money. This early scorecard looks at where the largest super PAC bets went and how they fared, on both sides.
A note on cause and effect: a super PAC backing a losing candidate does not prove its money was wasted, and a winner does not prove the money worked. In a wave election, the national environment can overwhelm almost any amount of advertising. What the scorecard shows is where the money went, and what happened there.
The Senate: where the biggest money lost
The Senate drew the largest super PAC commitments of the cycle, and the three most expensive races on record by AdImpact’s count (Texas, Ohio and Michigan) all went to the candidate who was outspent by outside groups.
| Race | Result (projected) | Major super PAC money on the losing side |
|---|---|---|
| Texas | Talarico (D) defeated Paxton (R) | Texas PAC, run by the Senate Leadership Fund and funded almost entirely by Elon Musk; MAGA Inc.; America PAC |
| Ohio | Brown (D) defeated Husted (R) | Crypto super PACs led by Fairshake (about $64 million); Senate Leadership Fund; No Going Back PAC; America PAC |
| Michigan | El-Sayed (D) defeated Rogers (R) | No Going Back PAC; Senate Leadership Fund; America PAC |
| Maine | Jackson (D) defeated Collins (R) | Pine Tree Results PAC, the pro-Collins super PAC |
| South Carolina | Andrews (D) defeated Graham (R) | Building the Future, a data-center industry super PAC |
| North Carolina | Cooper (D) won the open seat | Senate Leadership Fund; No Going Back PAC |
| Florida | Moody (R) defeated Nixon (D); Republican hold | No major super PAC spending identified so far |
| Alaska | Not yet called | Sullivan (R) vs. Peltola (D); counting may take weeks |
| Mississippi | Not yet called | Colom (D) led Hyde-Smith (R) by a few dozen votes |
Texas: the most expensive Senate race in history
No race drew more outside money. Musk gave $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, which in turn gave $158 million to Texas PAC, the group it created in late August to back Ken Paxton, according to FEC filings reported by the AP. By the end of October, Texas PAC had spent about $181.6 million in the race, CNBC found. The Texas Tribune counted $69.6 million from Texas PAC supporting Paxton and $78.7 million opposing Democrat James Talarico, plus $7.5 million and $22.9 million respectively from MAGA Inc.
Talarico took the opposite route. His campaign raised far more than Paxton’s (about $145 million to $22 million, per Quartz), mostly from smaller donors, while his main allied super PAC, Lone Star Rising, spent a comparatively modest $5.2 million supporting him by the Texas Tribune’s count. Talarico won, becoming the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Texas since 1988.
Ohio: crypto’s biggest single bet
Ohio was the second-most expensive Senate race of the cycle and the crypto industry’s top priority. Crypto super PACs put more than $64 million into supporting Sen. Jon Husted and opposing former Sen. Sherrod Brown, according to Molly White’s tracking at Citation Needed, with about $56.5 million of it from the Fairshake network. That was more than a third of all crypto super PAC spending this cycle. The Senate Leadership Fund directed about $42 million against Brown by early October, its largest commitment in any state, and No Going Back PAC added nearly $28 million. Brown won.
Michigan and Maine
In Michigan, outside groups had spent roughly $169 million supporting Republican Mike Rogers and $94 million supporting Democrat Abdul El-Sayed as of Nov. 1, Al Jazeera reported. No Going Back PAC alone put nearly $30 million into the state. El-Sayed won, becoming the first Muslim U.S. senator. He had also beaten heavy outside money in the Democratic primary, where AIPAC’s United Democracy Project spent more than $30 million in the race, according to CNBC.
In Maine, Pine Tree Results PAC, a super PAC formed solely to re-elect Sen. Susan Collins and funded largely by billionaire donors, had booked more than $28 million in ads by late September, according to AdImpact data reported by the Bangor Daily News. Collins lost to Democrat Troy Jackson.
How the biggest spenders fared
Senate Leadership Fund and Texas PAC
The Senate Leadership Fund was the cycle’s biggest outside spender, at nearly $174 million through Oct. 5 by OpenSecrets’ count, before counting the money it routed through Texas PAC. Its largest targets were Ohio, North Carolina and Michigan. Republicans lost all three, along with Texas.
MAGA Inc. and No Going Back PAC
President Trump’s political operation entered the midterms with more than $400 million in MAGA Inc. and did much of its spending through No Going Back PAC, a new super PAC that shares a treasurer and address with MAGA Inc. No Going Back had spent roughly $242 million by late October, CNBC reported, concentrated in Senate races in Michigan, Ohio, New Hampshire and North Carolina. Republicans lost all four.
America PAC (Elon Musk)
Musk’s own super PAC spent nearly $87 million across 44 federal races, according to a CNBC analysis of FEC filings. By Wednesday morning, the Republicans it backed had won three and lost 29, with 12 still uncalled; about 93% of its spending went to races Republicans lost. Counting his gifts to other groups, Musk was the biggest known donor of the midterms.
Crypto and AI industry super PACs
Crypto and AI super PACs together spent about $250 million on the midterms, Molly White calculated. Of the 12 competitive general-election races they spent in that had been called by Wednesday, their candidates lost nine, with $74.7 million spent on losing candidates and $28.3 million on winners. Beyond Ohio, Fairshake spent about $1 million backing Rep. Bryan Steil in Wisconsin’s 1st District; Steil, who chairs the House subcommittee on digital assets, lost to Democrat Mitchell Berman, she reported. Fairshake also spent against Juliana Stratton in Illinois’ Democratic Senate primary; she is now senator-elect.
The AI industry fared similarly. Time reported that voter opposition to data centers shaped several key races, and that pro-AI super PACs, including Leading the Future, struggled to turn spending into wins. In South Carolina, Annie Andrews, who campaigned for a two-year moratorium on new data centers, defeated Sen. Darline Graham despite a $1.5 million ad reservation for Graham by Building the Future, a new data-center industry super PAC.
Democratic super PACs
Democratic groups were outspent overall but spent in a year that broke their way. WinSenate, the main spending arm of Senate Majority PAC, reported about $167 million in independent expenditures in 11 races through Oct. 14. Its largest commitments, in Ohio, North Carolina, Iowa, Michigan, Maine and New Hampshire, all went to Democrats. Its other targets included Alaska, which is still being counted.
The House: too early to score
Democrats won the House majority, with CBS News estimating they could finish with 251 to 268 seats. But several dozen races were still uncalled on Wednesday morning, so a House scorecard would be premature. The two main House super PACs, the Republican Congressional Leadership Fund and the Democratic House Majority PAC, had spent $67.2 million and $49.3 million respectively through Oct. 5, according to OpenSecrets, and both spent heavily in the final weeks. We will add a House section once most races are called.
What comes next
Final spending figures will come in the post-general election reports, which cover activity through Nov. 23 and are due to the FEC on Dec. 3. Several groups will also report how much cash they have left, which will show who spent nearly everything and who kept money in reserve for 2028. We will update this scorecard with called races as they come in and with final totals in December. Current figures for the largest super PACs are in our 2026 Midterm Super PAC Tracker.
Sources
- CBS News: 2026 Senate election results (Nov. 4, 2026)
- CNN: Midterm election live updates (Nov. 4, 2026)
- NBC Chicago / AP / NBC News: Which races haven’t been called (Nov. 4, 2026)
- Semafor: Senate goes Democratic (Nov. 3, 2026)
- CNBC: Elon Musk suffers political setback in 2026 midterms (Nov. 4, 2026)
- CNBC: ‘Pop-up’ super PACs spend record sums (Oct. 31, 2026)
- Molly White, Citation Needed: A crypto and AI money guide to election night (Nov. 3, 2026), with results tracked in her election-night thread
- Time: The winners and losers of AI’s first big election (Nov. 4, 2026)
- Texas Tribune: Spending in the Texas Senate race
- AP via AJC: Talarico rallies as race enters final weeks (Oct. 2026)
- Quartz: 2026 midterm spending, 7 big-money fights (Nov. 4, 2026)
- Quartz: Where the most outside money is going (Nov. 2, 2026)
- Al Jazeera: The most expensive midterm races (Nov. 1, 2026)
- ABC7 / AdImpact: Ad spending records (Nov. 4, 2026)
- OpenSecrets via Arkansas Advocate: Outside spending nears $2 billion (Oct. 11, 2026)
- Legis1: Senate Leadership Fund spending by state (Oct. 5, 2026)
- WinSenate FEC summary (through Oct. 14, 2026)
- Bangor Daily News: Pine Tree Results PAC (Sept. 23, 2026)
Published by SuperPACs.com. Figures come from Federal Election Commission filings and the sources listed above. Read about how we work and our editorial standards.