Political action committee spending
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Political action committee spending on Minnesota congressional races fell from $24 million in the 2022 midterm election to $3.4 million in the 2024 election, an 85% drop.

The decline came even as Minnesota added a Senate race to the mix in 2024. According to filings from the Federal Election Commission through Nov. 25, independent expenditure spending on Minnesota congressional races — money spent by any PAC or other committee to support or oppose political campaigns — was the smallest seen in Minnesota since a $45 million spending peak in 2018, indicating that national attention on the state’s congressional races may be waning.

The large decrease in PAC spending from 2022 to 2024 runs counter to an increase in campaign committee fundraising for Minnesota congressional races. Even when 2024's Senate fundraising is taken out, congressional campaign fundraising was up 17% in 2024 as compared to 2022. Overall, campaign fundraising increased from $28.5 million in the 2016 general election to $66 million in 2024, with a peak of $75.5 million raised across all 2020 races.

The drop in independent expenditures indicates a relative decrease in national financial attention toward the state’s congressional races and candidates, said Christopher Terry, a professor of journalism at the University of Minnesota researching political advertising. Terry chalks this up to the relative security of incumbent candidates running in 2024.

Concerning senior Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s campaign this year, Terry said a large investment in either campaign may have not been worth it: “She couldn’t lose here if she tried.”

Since 2016, the Minnesota seat attracting the most PAC financial attention has been the state’s 2nd Congressional District. Out of the $129 million in independent expenditures focused on Minnesota’s House and Senate races between 2016-2024, $35.8 million (28%) was spent on the state’s 2nd District elections. The district is currently held by Democratic Rep. Angie Craig, who first won the seat in the 2018 midterm election. That year, PACs spent $8.5 million to influence the race; $7.5 million of that total was spent on activities directly opposing either candidate’s campaign — $3 million against Craig and $4.5 million against Republican incumbent Jason Lewis, who won the 2nd District seat in 2016.

In 2024, independent expenditures toward campaigns for Minnesota’s 2nd District seat fell to $2.2 million. That election, in which Republican candidate Joe Teirab challenged Craig, also saw a relative drop in opposition spending from PACs. While 89% of PAC spending was in opposition to a given 2nd District candidate in the 2018 election, only 31% of 2024’s total independent expenditures were against either candidate.

PAC spending against Craig’s 2024 campaign fell to only $5,247.46 of text messaging campaigns by the conservative North Star Values PAC. The 2024 election's biggest spender was the pro-cryptocurrency Fairshake PAC, who spent $974,000 to support Craig. Though Craig didn't talk much about cryptocurrency and blockchain issues during the campaign, she is set to become the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Agriculture and as such will have direct influence over commodities exchanges, potentially giving her sway over the country's future regulation of cryptocurrencies.

Some of the biggest spenders from previous 2nd District elections — the National Republican Congressional Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and the Democrat-supporting House Majority PAC, among others — were completely absent from this race in 2024.

Terry attributes the overall drop in PAC spending, in particular against Craig, to the district’s relatively expensive advertising market and Republican institutional fatigue built up over a series of midterm losses since 2018.

“Is it odd? Yes. I’m actually fairly surprised about it,” Terry said. “But on the whole, all that money was set on fire two years ago.”

While PAC spending fell off in Minnesota this past election, the state was no stranger to big campaign finance events. Here's more MinnPost coverage of how political finances moved in 2024:

Michael Nolan is a freelance data journalist working with MinnPost ahead of the 2024 election.