Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
The Russell Senate Office Building in Washington.
Want to be a member of Congress?
First, raise more than $1 million.
Or 10 times more to join the Senate.
That’s the price of admission, as calculated by the watchdog group Maplight.org.
The average House winner in 2012 raised $1.7 million, or $2,315 every day for two years.
The average Senate winner raised $10.5 million, or $14,351 every day for two years. That doesn’t include the previous four years in which senators could raise money for campaigns since they run every six years rather than every two.
The most expensive race nationwide was the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts, where the candidates brought in $75.9 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a research group. In that contest, Democrat Elizabeth Warren ousted Republican incumbent Scott Brown.
In the House, the Florida race pitting Tea Party-favorite Allen West, the Republican incumbent, against Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy, drew $24.4 million in donations. Murphy narrowly won.
