$2.2 billion spent on races at state level

The story of money in politics doesn’t stop with spending on races for Congress.

Candidates for governor, legislature and other state offices this year have brought in $2.2 billion in campaign contributions — nearly matching the combined total of

$2.4 billion for candidates for the U.S. House and Senate.

That makes this year among the most expensive ever in state-level politics, and the total will only grow in the final stretch before Tuesday’s election.

At stake is control of 36 governors’ offices and legislative chambers in most states.

Activists see state elections as a good investment because it doesn’t take as much money to influence them as it does congressional races.

The upstart organization Flippable has raised about $1 million this year for 130 Democratic legislative candidates in 10 states. Its chief executive, Catherine Vaughan, points out that legislative campaigns cost about $150,000 on average, compared with more than $1 million for a congressional race.

The top states this year for reported contributions to candidates are, in order, Illinois, California, Texas, Florida, New York, Georgia and Pennsylvania.

Donors also have contributed more than $400 million to support or oppose ballot initiatives.

While Democrats are spending more in federal elections, it’s about even in state-level elections. As of Thursday, reports processed by the National Institute on Money in Politics show that both parties had brought in just over $1 billion, with a slight edge for the GOP. Nonpartisan and third-party candidates had raised about $40 million.

But the money race is not even on a state-by-state basis. Republicans running for legislatures have raised $370 million to Democrats’

$354 million.