House spending by party and individual
The 2022 mid-season election was a turbulent event that saw a lot of heated debate and political maneuvering. The control of the House of Representatives was a major issue, with the Republican Party in particular seeking to prevent the Democratic Party from passing bills. The Republican Party has been particularly vocal about its concerns regarding the congressional House expenditure. The party has accused the Democratic Party of wasting taxpayer money by allocating funds for unnecessary expenses. Specifically, the Republican Party has pointed to expenses related to travel, office equipment, and staff salaries as examples of excessive spending. The Republican Party also heavily invested into the elections as the current us president is a Democrat and by taking the house the Democrat Party can limit the influence the president has on the country.
Based on public available data the Republican Party went all out to secure the house spending nearly twice the amount of money on fundraising than the Democratic Party totaling in around $526,000,000. Most of the money during the election for both parties however went towards the media. With the current generations constant access to social media and news platforms. Much of the election was highly dependent on how the younger generation voted. The Democratic Party seemed to invest more into the media by a decent portion spending approximately $754,000,000 while the Republican party spent only around $620,000,000. The Democratic Party still spent far more on salaries during the election totaling to around $270,000,000 while the republican party spent much less at around $169,000,000. In the end however the Republican party managed to get control of the house.
Going into 2021 expenditure of the house is still a contentious topic with arguments running amok. The average member of the Republican Party actually spends than their Democratic counterparts at around $317,000 while Democrats spent around $224,000. This totals to around $57,000,000 for the Republican party and $58,000,000 for the Democratic. This discrepancy in average vs total spending was likely a result of Democrat Party having more control over the house at the time the data was collected. Overall the data suggests that the gap in expenditures by house members is large on average but smaller in total. This is somewhat in contrast to what the Republican Party seems to claim about Democrats and staff salaries and overall expenditure.
By state California has the highest expenditure at around $15,000,000 which makes sense given they have the most house representatives at 52. The following 4 states, making up the top 5 spenders, follow this idea with Texas at approximately $10,000,000 and 36 representatives, Florida at approximately $6,000,000 and 27 representatives, New York at approximately $5,000,000 and 27 representatives, and Pennsylvania at $4,000,000.
Overall the House will continue to be a major point of contention for the foreseeable future. Representatives expenditures will be a point of focus as either side looks to gain an advantage in the ongoing political arena. The Parties will continue to strive to gain control over all major parts of the government similar to Donald Trump’s presidency. Future campaigns will likely continue to focus more and more on media presence to influence the coming generation. Moreover these battles for the House, Senate, and Presidency are likely become more aggressive and polar as both side seeks the advantage. Representatives will eventually have to reach some sort of a common ground for the country to continue to function as the world seems to continue to become more and more split and aggressive especially with things like the war in Ukraine and China’s aggression against Taiwan.
