FEC filing system offline for 24 hours as $11.2 billion midterm spending race intensifies

The Federal Election Commission’s electronic filing system has been offline for more than 24 hours, halting the submission of mandatory campaign finance disclosures one week before the November 3 midterm elections. The outage began at approximately 10 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday and remains in effect as of Tuesday, according to a status message posted by the agency.

The disruption prevents political groups from filing the 24-hour and 48-hour reports that detail immediate spending in competitive races. These filings provide the most granular view of how super PACs and dark money organizations deploy funds in the final stretch of a campaign. Without this data, observers lack real-time visibility into the flow of money in the final days of the election cycle.

Steven Mele, president and CEO of MBA Consulting Group, described the timing as rare. “I’ve never seen this in 26 years,” Mele said. He noted that the result is less disclosure on the elections until the system is restored. The FEC tracks the spending of candidates and political committees, but the agency does not administer the elections themselves. Consequently, the outage does not affect voters’ ability to cast ballots at the polls.

The timing coincides with a surge in political advertising. The 2026 midterms are currently the most expensive U.S. election in history, with roughly $11.21 billion spent on advertising and future reservations, according to political ad tracker AdImpact. This total has surpassed the previous record set in 2024, when $11.2 billion was spent across all races. The 2024 figure included $3.2 billion for the presidential contest between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.

Spending in recent weeks has been driven by super PACs, entities that can accept unlimited funds from wealthy individuals and corporations. These groups have spent an average of over $50 million per day over the last week, according to Brendan Glavin, research director at OpenSecrets. Glavin reported that more than $250 million in spending was recorded on October 20 alone. Democrats have been gaining ground in several Republican strongholds, adding urgency to the financial tracking.

In an email to several campaign compliance firms on Monday night, an FEC electronic filings officer identified a security incident. “We have a bad actor attempting to breach FEC systems,” the officer wrote. “As a result, we’ve had to temporarily shut down our web facing services.” The agency’s IT staff are actively working to restore service, according to a statement from the FEC. Users can still search the website for past reports, but new submissions are paused.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency referred questions about the breach to the FEC. The FBI did not immediately return messages seeking comment. The FEC declined further comment on the specifics of the outage. The agency’s website remained offline throughout Tuesday, leaving campaign finance officers without a digital channel to meet their reporting deadlines.

Glavin emphasized the impact of the silence on the public record. “These are the key reports that tell us what is happening,” he said. “In the last days of the election this is the only way for us to keep track of where the money’s being spent and who’s spending it.” The outage leaves a gap in the data during a period when daily spending reports are the primary tool for monitoring rapid shifts in campaign finance.

The 2026 election will determine whether Republicans maintain their majorities in Congress for the next two years. With the filing system down, the standard mechanism for verifying compliance with short-form reporting requirements is suspended. The FEC has not announced a specific timeline for when the system will be back online, but the delay extends the period of reduced transparency in a high-stakes political race.