Big companies have never spent this much on a midterm election. A watchdog group's review of new federal filings released Friday puts corporate money in the 2026 races at roughly $737.3 million, about 60% more than businesses spent during the 2024 presidential cycle.

That single cycle makes up around 40% of the $1.8 billion corporations have put into federal elections since 2010. That was the year the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling cleared companies to spend freely on politics.

The climb has been steep. Businesses spent about $12.8 million in the 2010 midterms. The figure rose to $84.9 million in 2012 and to $117.9 million in 2016.

Who is writing the checks

Three industries stand out. Cryptocurrency firms, online betting companies and Big Tech players with stakes in AI and data centers have together given about $391 million. That is more than half of all corporate money reported this cycle.

MAGA Inc, the super PAC tied to the president, has collected about 19% of the reported corporate contributions.

A small club of megadonors

A second analysis from the same group looked at individual donors. Just 515 people and organizations who each gave at least $1 million have supplied about $4.2 billion to super PACs. That works out to 73% of all super PAC money this cycle.

Elon Musk tops the list with about $445 million, close to a tenth of that total. Without him the other 514 donors still account for around $3.8 billion.

Party-aligned super PACs lean on those big givers. Senate Leadership Fund drew $496 million from 61 million-dollar donors. MAGA Inc took in $405 million from 102 of them. Senate Majority PAC got $244 million from 44 while Congressional Leadership Fund collected $231 million from 53. House Majority PAC raised $183 million from 31.

More than 85% of super PAC cash came in gifts of $20,000 or more. That is close to a quarter of what a typical American household earns in a year.

The real corporate total is likely higher. Some election spending flows through nonprofit groups that do not have to name their donors, so it never appears in public filings. Voters head to the polls Tuesday.