‘Pop-up’ super PACs spend record sums

A super PAC called Our Heritage Matters registered with the Federal Election Commission on Oct. 15.

Five days later, it began spending to boost third-party candidates and attack Republicans. By Oct. 29, the group had spent about $1.2 million across 10 House and Senate races, according to a CNBC analysis of FEC filings.

What voters still cannot see is who supplied the money.

Because Our Heritage Matters formed after a key campaign finance reporting deadline on Oct. 15, its first regular report identifying its donors is not due until Dec. 3, a month after Election Day.

The group is an extreme example of a broader surge reshaping the midterm election: late-forming super PACs, including the latest-forming “pop-up PACs,” pouring money into races before voters know where it came from.

Federal law requires super PACs and political committees to report large independent expenditures within 24 or 48 hours depending on how close to Election Day the spending occurs, showing how much they spent and which candidates they supported or opposed. Their donors, however, are disclosed less frequently through periodic campaign finance reports.

And in 2026, the practice of creating new, last-minute PACs has exploded. Both parties are using the tactic, with Republican-linked PACs spending about twice what those connected with Democrats have disbursed.

Twenty-two super PACs that registered with the FEC during the final 10 weeks before Election Day have each spent at least $1 million on congressional races, according to CNBC’s analysis. Together, they had reported roughly $637 million in independent expenditures by Oct. 29 — about one-sixth of all independent spending reported in House and Senate races this election cycle.

The number of million-dollar late-forming super PACs has more than quadrupled since 2022, while their spending has grown nearly 35-fold.

At the same point in the 2022 midterms, just five comparable groups had spent about $18 million combined, according to CNBC’s analysis. In 2018, three had spent about $12 million. The total has even eclipsed the past two presidential elections, when comparable late-forming super PACs spent less than $50 million combined on congressional races in both 2020 and 2024, according to CNBC’s analysis.

“The reason for this is almost entirely to avoid disclosure, even if just temporarily,” said Michael Kang, a Northwestern Pritzker School of Law professor who studies campaign finance. “Many times, if the donors were known, then it would undercut their cause.”

CNBC’s analysis includes super PACs formed in the final 10 weeks before Election Day that spent at least $1 million on House or Senate races by Oct. 29. Spending includes regular FEC filings and 24- and 48-hour reports, with duplicates removed.

From zero to millions in late-forming PAC spending

One of the defining features of late-forming super PACs is speed.

Among the 22 groups in CNBC’s analysis, 18 began spending within 30 days of launching, and almost all started spending…