Why it's so hard for young people to run for office

The 2024 presidential campaign wasn’t just the strangest campaign our country has ever seen, it was also the most expensive political operation in history. That has pro-democracy advocates concerned about how the soaring cost of campaigning is pricing young people out of running for office entirely.

This year’s numbers are a sight to behold. President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris spent a combined $5.5 billion on their presidential races, but the spending explodes when congressional races and outside spending are factored in. Those races push the total spent on the 2024 election to a staggering $15.9 billion, almost enough money to provide a year of free school lunches to every child in America.

The cost of running for Congress has also never been higher—and it’s actually rising faster than the price of running for the presidency. Younger Americans trying to make the leap from local campaigns to federal office increasingly find themselves blocked by a multimillion-dollar paywall. 

And long-time incumbents in both parties are just fine keeping things that way.