COLORADO — As the saying goes "money makes the world go 'round" and in politics, that may ring especially true.
"Money in politics has always been around, right? It's definitely, you know, into the 21st century and beyond has been growing," Ryan Strickler, a political science professer at Colorado State University- Pueblo said.
Take for example Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign, in the first day and a half her campaign boasted $100 million in donations. The campaign also said more than half of its donors were first-time donors.
Strickler said there's a baseline for many candidates to be competitive, on average for those competitive congressional races it can mean millions.
"The average Senate campaign takes eight figures to run, the average House campaign, takes seven figures, presidential campaigns are at $1 billion," Strickler said.
The money raised goes to paying for staff to make the campaign run as well as advertising on TV and radio, and nowadays for a variety of digital platforms too.
"With a presidential race, the irony is that's the race where money matters the least," Strickler said, "Trump and Harris are going to be saturated in the media, many people know how they're going to vote and what not."
Strickler pointed out oftentimes more money doesn't always translate to more votes. In smaller races, for example at the state legislature level more money can make a difference.
"State senate races, state legislature Races where people don't really know the candidates. There - some money that can go towards TV ads or radio ads can make maybe more of a difference because you've never heard of, you know, this candidate before," Strickler said.
Anyone can look up where candidates are getting their money from and how it's being spent.
"If you're gonna make an informed vote, you [need to] know who is your candidate listening to. Who's who? Who do different groups and different people, different organizations think are going to be responsive to their interests?" Strickler said.
RESOURCES TO TRACK CAMPAIGN FUNDRAISING/SPENDING
Federal Election Commission (FEC):The FEC is where candidates and political committees must file all their campaign contributions and spending. Anyone can go look at a Presidential or Congressional candidates filing on this website
OpenSecrets: This website tracks campaign donations as well as interest groups and lobbying spending.
TRACER: This is the Colorado campaign finance database, where candidates running for state and county offices file their campaign reports.
The catch when it comes to following the money, not all money is traceable. While individual contributors made directly to a campaign, a lot of money comes in through Super PACs or political action committees.
While money raised through Super PACs is banned from directly donating to a candidate, that money can be used to campaign for or against someone.
"They're not subject to these rules that other donors are subject to," Strickler said.
WATCH: How to track the money this election
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