---
title: "Spending by nonparty groups sharply higher so far this election cycle"
description: "The amount that nonparty groups have spent so far in the 2013-14 election cycle."
date: "2013-11-08"
authors:
  - name: "Drew DeSilver"
    job_title: "Senior Writer/Editor"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/drew-desilver/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/11/08/spending-by-nonparty-groups-sharply-higher-so-far-this-election-cycle/"
categories:
  - "U.S. Elections & Voters"
---

# Spending by nonparty groups sharply higher so far this election cycle

All those TV spots add up: Nonparty organizations have spent $20.6 million so far in the 2013-14 election cycle, more than three times their spending at this point in the 2011-12 cycle, according to [an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics](http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2013/11/liberal-dark-money-dominating-2014-elections.html).

Aside from candidates' own campaigns and traditional party committees, there are several types of nonparty political organizations. They include traditional PACs that contribute directly to campaigns and so-called "super PACs" that can't give money directly but can spend unlimited amounts independently of campaigns; both types must disclose their donors.

[![campaign_spending](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2013/11/campaign_spending.png)](http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2013/11/liberal-dark-money-dominating-2014-elections.html)

Another category, politically active nonprofits, don't have to disclose their donors; for that reason, the Center for Responsive Politics calls them "dark money" organizations. Such groups have spent $2.5 million so far in the 2013-14 cycle, accounting for 12% of all nonparty spending. At this point in the last cycle, "dark money" groups had spent less than $441,000, representing 7% of total nonparty spending.

Most of the "dark money" spent so far in the current cycle has been by liberal groups; over the past three cycles conservative groups had dominated that area of campaign finance. (The center characterizes a group as "liberal" or "conservative" based on its spending pattern.) The [League of Conservation Voters](http://www.lcv.org/), for instance, spent more than $800,000 to support Ed Markey (D-Mass.) in this summer's special Senate election; [Patriot Majority USA](http://www.patriotmajority.org/) has spent almost $558,000 opposing Republicans Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Tom Cotton (Ark.).