Super PAC Spending Exceeds $1 Billion in Single Election Cycle -- 2016 Presidential Race (2016-11-08)

Super PACs poured over $1 billion into federal elections in the 2016 presidential cycle, accounting for 16 percent of all spending and making it the most expensive election in history at that time. The explosion of outside spending six years after Citizens United demonstrated the full maturation of the unlimited independent expenditure system. Dark money organizations increasingly routed funds through super PACs to avoid direct FEC disclosure requirements.