Michigan Democratic statewide candidates and officeholders have spent $15.4 million during the 2022 election cycle. Among statewide officials and candidates, Gretchen Whitmer has spent more than any other Democrat.
Whitmer is Governor of Michigan and is running for re-election in 2022. Whitmer raised $23.7 million and spent $14.8 million between Jan. 1, 2021, and July 20, 2022. According to Michigan Secretary of State reports, Whitmer spent the most money with the following individual payees and PACs.
Gretchen Whitmer’s Top 10 Payees, (1/1/2021 – 7/20/2022)
Of the $14.8 million in reported expenditures, $11.0 million went to these 10 payees:
| Total Expenditures | Name | Type |
| $3,557,866 | Michigan Democratic State Central Committee | ENTITY |
| $3,168,827 | Run the World Digital | ENTITY |
| $1,964,283 | Paychex Inc | ENTITY |
| $948,729 | Gmmb Inc | ENTITY |
| $277,349 | Clark Hill PAC | ENTITY |
| $257,547 | Capital Strategies Group | ENTITY |
| $250,000 | Mark J Bernstein | INDIVIDUAL |
| $223,480 | Impact Research | ENTITY |
| $177,812 | Cardmember Service | ENTITY |
| $173,692 | Act Blue* | ENTITY |
*A PAC is a group that spends money on elections. Conduit PACs, such as ActBlue, are a subset of non-candidate PACs through which individuals can donate to candidate PACs.
The data above are based on campaign finance reports that active Michigan PACs submitted to the Michigan Secretary of State. Political expenditures that are not controlled by candidates or their campaigns, known as satellite spending, are not included in candidate totals. Federal PACs are not required to report to state agencies. Transparency USA publishes campaign finance data following major reporting deadlines. State or federal law may require filers to submit additional reports.
See updates to Gretchen Whitmer’s campaign finance data after the next reports are available.
| Report Name | Report Due Date |
| 2022 Annual/January | 1/31/2022 |
| 2022 April (PACs) | 4/25/2022 |
| 2022 July (PACs) | 7/25/2022 |
| 2022 Post-Primary | 9/1/2022 |
| 2022 Pre-General | 10/28/2023 |
| 2022 Post-General | 12/8/2022 |
This article is a joint publication from Ballotpedia and Transparency USA, who are working together to provide campaign finance information for state-level elections. Learn more about our work here.
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