Companies, trade associations, and other groups spent more money on federal lobbying last year than ever before, according to data from OpenSecrets. Taking inflation into account, the total of $4.4 billion spent on lobbying last year was the most since 2012.
Of the top 20 spenders on federal lobbying last year, 15 of them increased their spending over 2023. In the presidential election years of 2012, 2016, and 2020, lobbying spending cooled slightly compared with the prior years, a sign that large influence spenders scaled back as campaigns heated up. Last year’s spending total bucked the trend.
The real estate industry had the largest jump in 2024, in OpenSecrets’ categorization of lobbying spenders, with its spending increasing by 37% over the prior year to more than $150 million. The industry’s rise was fueled by a huge increase from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the number one spender in 2024 and one of the top two lobbying spenders in Washington D.C. in recent years. The trade association NAR represents brokers, salespeople, and others who work in the real estate industry, and whose dues make up the majority of the group’s revenue. NAR juiced its lobbying spending by a whopping two-thirds, reaching almost $86.4 million last year.
