Big bucks spent on 2014 ballot measures

December 8, 2014

By Brittany Clingen

Candidates tend to take center stage during elections, but down-ballot items, most notably statewide ballot measures, deserved some of the spotlight during the 2014 election cycle.

Seventy-five ballot measures raked in a total of $458,551,590 from support and opposition campaigns in 2014, as of December. Notably, twice as much money was spent on California ballot measures in 2014 ($201 million) than on this year's North Carolina Senate race between Kay Hagan (D) and Thom Tillis (R), which turned out to be the most expensive Senate bid in history. About $100 million was poured into that race, won by Tillis.

California ballot measures traditionally take the top few spots when tallying the most expensive ballot measures. This year was no different, with the two most expensive measures - California's Proposition 46 and Proposition 45 - hailing from the Golden State. Final campaign finance reports in California won't be published until January 2015, meaning these already exorbitant numbers will only increase.

Medical and insurance conglomerates forked over enormous sums of money to defeat the two measures. As of December 2014, over $57 million had been spent opposing Proposition 46, and more than $56 million was contributed to defeat Proposition 45. In total, the measures garnered $70,228,481 and $63,228,328, respectively.

California measures were not the only ones attracting big bucks from donors. In Oregon, Measure 92, which unsuccessfully sought to mandate the labeling of food containing genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, broke two state spending records. It set a new record for the most money raised by one side of a ballot measure campaign, with the opposing side raising over $20 million. It also became the most expensive measure in the history of the state, surpassing a defeated 2007 measure's record of $16 million by bringing in $32,137,856 from the support and opposition groups.

In Illinois, over $4.9 million was spent in support of two ballot questions - the Illinois Minimum Wage Increase Question and the Illinois Birth Control in Prescription Drug Coverage Question. This is by no means an outrageous sum of money in the world of ballot measure spending. However, both of these measures were advisory questions, which means they are non-binding, regardless of the election results. Therefore, supporters spent nearly $5 million on measures that would have no direct impact on any law.

For more information on ballot measure spending in 2014 and for the most up-to-date numbers, see the full report here.

NOTE: Campaign contribution reports in several states are still not finalized. During research, it was found that not all reports were filed as of December 8, 2014, in California, Maine, Montana and Nevada. The information for these states will be updated as it becomes available. Therefore, numbers are subject to change.

See also

• 2014 ballot measures
• 2014 post-election ballot measure campaign contributions
• Analysis of the 2014 ballot measures