Michigan House battle was most expensive ever. Dems spent big, GOP won anyway
Michigan Republicans were outspent overall but won a 58-52 seat majority in the state House. Bridge file photo.
by Simon D. Schuster (Bridge Michigan)
LANSING — The 2024 battle for the Michigan House smashed spending records to become the most expensive legislative election in state history, costing a minimum of $67 million, according to an analysis by Bridge Michigan.
The total includes campaign finance records and ad spending data from the firm AdImpact obtained by Bridge Michigan.
The total cost of the House campaign — including races for all 110 seats — increased 70% from just four years ago, when the Michigan Campaign Finance Network found slightly less than $40 million was spent in the 2020 race.
Despite being outspent more than two-to-one overall, Republicans unseated four Democratic incumbents and won control of the state House. They are poised to enter 2025 with a 58-52 seat majority in the chamber.
Republican gains came as President-elect Donald Trump narrowly carried the state by a little more than 80,000 votes and Democrat Elissa Slotkin won election to the U.S. Senate by an even narrower margin.
The ten most expensive races alone, which saw more than $42 million in combined spending, eclipsed the entire cost of the Michigan House election four years prior. They made up close to two-thirds of the overall cost.
In 2018, which set records at the time for House election spending, just one race cost more than $1.5 million. In 2024, more than 14 did. The three most expensive races each cost more than $5 million.
More than $41 million was raised by candidates and legislative caucus committees that can spend unlimited amounts to support their election. But there was another nearly $26 million in spending by outside groups, including disclosed independent spending and unreported broadcast advertising.
The true total is likely higher. Bridge’s analysis doesn’t include major outlets for so-called dark money spending, such as mail and online advertising, which can’t be effectively tracked. Less than $11 million of the $26 million in outside spending Bridge tracked was disclosed under Michigan’s campaign finance laws.
The largest source of undisclosed broadcast advertising spending, however, was again the Michigan Democratic Party, which uses an “administrative” account that is not required to disclose donors. The party spent a record sum, nearly $13 million per AdImpact, on broadcast advertising from the account.
Both parties have traditionally used dark money accounts for political ads —in 2020 they were neck-and-neck — but the Michigan Republican Party faced upheaval and financial struggles early in the election cycle and didn’t buy any TV advertising time to support House candidates, according to AdImpact’s data.
Democratic ads heavily featured issues the party’s candidates successfully ran on in 2022, attacking Republican rivals over abortion rights, but didn’t mention what the party had done with two years in control of state government.
In exit polling, most Michigan voters signaled it was economic issues that drove their voting choices.
In a prior interview with Bridge, state Rep. Bill Schuette, who chaired House Republicans’ campaign arm, said improving affordability was a driving message for GOP candidates. They released a 10-point plan that focused heavily on the economy and education issues.
Lopsided funding edge for Democrats
Candidate fundraising in the House election was historically lopsided.
Including primary candidates, Democrats raised about $16.1 million in the 2024 election cycle, after excluding payments from their colleagues’ leadership PACs.
Republican candidates raised just $7.3 million into their campaign accounts, a relatively meager sum. The last time Republican House candidates collectively raised less money was 18 years ago, in the 2006 election.
Being in the majority, and getting to direct which legislation comes up for a vote, clearly paid dividends for Democrats. Fundraising from political action committees, which includes special interest, industry and advocacy organizations, jumped from $4.9 million in the 2022 election cycle to $9.4 million.
For Republicans, PAC contributions cratered, falling from $4.3 million in 2022 to $2.9 million this year.
The imbalance underscored the eminent influence of caucus PACs in Michigan’s campaign finance system. The caucuses raise millions into the accounts for every election, and since they alone can spend unlimited amounts of money in direct coordination with general election candidates, the amount of money raised by those individual candidates becomes less important, given caucus PACs will funnel all their cash into a handful of competitive legislative districts.
Unlike House candidate campaigns, which have contributions from individuals limited to $1,225 per election cycle, Caucus PACs can get $48,875 from each donor every year.
House Republicans, at least through Oct. 20, reported outraising Democrats by nearly $2 million via caucus PACs, though they won’t have to disclose total fundraising until next year. Reporting from candidates, however, indicated caucus PAC spending was effectively even, at about $8.8 million for each party.
Most expensive
The most expensive state House race this year was the 46th District contest between incumbent Republican Rep. Kathy Schmaltz of Jackson and Democrat Dan Mahoney.
The Michigan Democratic Party alone spent as much money on ads supporting Mahoney — nearly $2.8 million, per AdImpact — than the candidate, caucus PACs and disclosed outside groups combined.
The race cost nearly $5.6 million, a record. Though Republican spending was only about $1.8 million of the total, Schmaltz won reelection to represent parts of Jackson and Washtenaw Counties with 52% of the vote.
Total spending exceeded $5 million in two other districts, the 27th District downriver of Detroit and the 44th District surrounding Battle Creek. In both districts, Republicans unseated Democratic incumbents despite facing substantial financial disadvantages.
Some Democrats were themselves surprised when they won a state House majority amid sweeping victories in 2022. Candidates won in several Republican-leaning parts of the state, such as Democratic Rep. Jaime Churches’ in the downriver 27th District, which she took by a little more than 600 votes.
This year, Democrats spent three times more than Republicans to defend Churches’ seat in a race that cost at least $5.1 million. But with prevailing political winds shifting away from Democrats, Michigan Republican Party youth vice chair Rylee Linting defeated Churches by about 2,300 votes.
This article is being republished through a syndication agreement with Bridge Michigan. Bridge Michigan is Michigan’s largest nonprofit news service and one of the nation’s leading and largest nonprofit civic news providers. Their coverage is nonpartisan, fact-based, and data-driven. Find them online at https://www.bridgemi.com/.
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