This story is part of a series related to the 10-year anniversary of Citizens United v. FEC. OpenSecrets recently released a comprehensive report on the impacts of the controversial Supreme Court decision. Click here to read the full report. 

Billionaires spent unprecedented amounts of money influencing elections over the last decade — the top three donors and their spouses gave $717 million to outside groups such as super PACs — and they’re expected to shell out even more in 2020. 

Two of those billionaires are vying for the Democratic nomination for president and are spending unrivaled sums to do so. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has already spent at least $248 million on advertising for his own 2020 campaign, far more than he spent to back Democrats over the last decade. And the billionaire businessman said he is willing to spend up to $1 billion to support the Democratic presidential nominee if he drops out of the primary. 

Bloomberg has stated that even if he doesn’t win the nomination, he will keep around 500 campaign staffers active to independently support the Democratic candidate who will face President Donald Trump in November.

“Mike Bloomberg is either going to be the nominee or the most important person supporting the Democratic nominee for president,” Kevin Sheekey, Bloomberg’s campaign manager, told NBC News.

Billionaire investor Tom Steyer, the other top donor, is also using his own money to run for president and is spending big in early primary states. The environmental activist has spent more than $100 million on his own campaign but has yet to detail any other outside spending plans. 

Even before the 2010 Citizens United decision, federal candidates could spend unlimited amounts of their personal funds on their own campaigns. In 1992, billionaire Ross Perot spent about $63.5 million — $115 million when adjusted for inflation — of his own money on his presidential campaign. However, if Bloomberg falters in the primary and follows through on his pledge to spend heavily in support of the Democratic nominee, it could mark an unprecedented influx of outside spending by a single megadonor. 

The 2016 election battle between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton was flooded with $324 million combined in outside spending. The top donor that cycle was Tom Steyer and Kathryn Taylor, who gave roughly $91 million to candidates and groups. Sheldon and Miriam Adelson gave the second highest amount at $83 million. The Adelsons, boasting an estimated $40 billion net worth, set an election record in 2018 when they gave $124 million to Republican candidates and causes. 

The top 10 donors to outside groups combined to give nearly $58 million so far this cycle. That figure will rise when groups file new reports at the end of January, and will likely spike in the weeks leading up to election day. Tom Steyer is the top donor among them, giving $24 million through the end of September. 

Since Citizens United was decided, the biggest donors have been wealthy individuals, not corporations as originally feared. Individuals could fund independent expenditures before the ruling, but few did as they were required to tell viewers or readers that they were personally paying for the communication. 

In the years following Citizens United, Bloomberg launched Independence USA PAC, and Steyer funded NextGen Climate Action and Need to Impeach. With an estimated net worth of $56 billion, Bloomberg could afford to convert his campaign into an outside group and spend $1 billion to boost the Democratic nominee with ads and canvassing. That level of spending would be unheard of, but so is Bloomberg’s presidential campaign spending. 

Bloomberg’s campaign is already operating as a vehicle to attack Trump. One of his television campaign ads attacked Trump over healthcare, and he is launching a new offensive calling for Trump’s impeachment that goes after vulnerable Senate Republicans, according to the Washington Post. By airing attack ads as a candidate, Bloomberg pays less than he would if he were to run ads from an outside group.

Although other major Democratic candidates are focusing heavily on Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, Bloomberg is skipping the early voting states, instead focusing on Super Tuesday states. The rationale behind his strategy is that other major Democratic candidates have not been able to spend and campaign much in those 14 states, so Bloomberg can use his money to flood the airwaves there and win some of the large number of delegates at stake.

Bloomberg has been spending heavily since he announced his candidacy. Bloomberg purchased 60 seconds in advertising time during the Super Bowl at an estimated cost of $10 million; that’s being matched by the Trump campaign. Local ad slots in Super Tuesday states, such as Maine, have also been purchased by the Bloomberg campaign. Bloomberg has also been buying ads in and campaigning in primary states that vote after Super Tuesday, such as Illinois and Arizona. 

A vast nationwide campaign infrastructure is being built by Bloomberg, and his campaign is hiring in every state except four: South Dakota, Nebraska and the early Democratic primary states of Iowa and South Carolina. Full-time field organizers are being hired by the campaign, with salaries of $6,000 a month and benefits. More than 1,000 staffers now work for the Bloomberg campaign, according to Politico. 

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