OMM Newsroom
A week before the US midterm elections, hackers targeted the Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) electronic reporting system. According to an email seen by Reuters and cited by AnewZ, the incident occurred as super PACs and groups with opaque funding were spending record amounts in the final days of the election campaign.
The FEC posted a status update saying the system had been offline since 10 p.m. local time on Monday. The commission said information technology staff were working to restore the service.
That evening, an FEC employee responsible for electronic filings wrote to several companies that monitor campaign finance reports, saying there had been an attempt to breach the system and that internet-facing services had been temporarily suspended as a result.
A new status update posted at 8 p.m. local time on Tuesday said the problem had been identified and resolved.
System does not affect voting
The disruption to the FEC’s electronic reporting system does not affect the US elections or voters’ ability to cast ballots. The system is used to track spending by candidates and political committees.
The outage prevents organizations from filing spending reports with the FEC within 24 or 48 hours, as required. The reports show how much political groups and other organizations spend on specific election races.
Brendan Glavin, research director at nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog OpenSecrets, said the reports are among the main sources for tracking spending. In the final days before an election, they are the only way to follow where the money is going and who is spending it, he said.
Spending on election advertising reaches $11.21 billion
According to AdImpact, which tracks political advertising spending, the upcoming US midterm elections have become the most expensive in the country’s history. About $11.21 billion has so far been spent on political ads and future ad bookings.
AdImpact said the total surpasses the previous record set in the 2024 elections. Spending across all races that year reached $11.2 billion, including $3.2 billion on the presidential contest between Donald Trump and former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Super PACs accounted for a large share of the spending. These committees can accept unlimited contributions from wealthy individuals and companies and spend large sums on political campaigns, subject to certain restrictions.
Glavin said super PACs and groups with opaque funding had spent an average of more than $50 million a day over the past week. He added that more than $250 million in spending was reported on Oct. 20 alone.
