It’s empirically proven---oil and gas crowd out smaller funding comparatively.

In the closest federal races, the oil & gas industry has spent an estimated average of $4.3 million per Senate seat and $490,000 per House seat through direct contributions, funding for party committees, and funding for super PACs.

During this election cycle, 20 oil & gas companies and industry trade associations contributed more than $52 million to right-wing super PACs and party fundraising committees, and more than $4 million to candidate PACs. Much of the spending was used to support Republican candidates running in competitive Senate and House districts.

Whereas direct contributions are subject to strict federal limits, super PACs and party committees can spend unlimited amounts to influence elections (following certain rules). Big Oil contributed much more to these groups than directly to candidates.

Donors give to super PACs and party committees that align with their political goals, paying close attention to how the money is used. We should also be paying attention. In this analysis, an attribution method was used to estimate how much the oil & gas industry spent in each toss-up race—races where both parties have more than a 40% chance and less than a 60% chance of winning—through funding for party committees and super PACs, in addition to direct contributions.

Big Oil’s spending was so high that in 10 out of the 14 races analyzed, oil & gas-attributed spending outweighed the amount that one or both candidates raised from small donors (donors who contributed $200 or less). These races are bolded in the tables below.