Hello, I'm Ed Butler and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC.

Coming up, the midterm elections are here in the US, more expensive, more experimental than ever.

Better O'Rourke's fundraising campaign is unlike any that has been seen in terms of how much money the campaign is raising and from how many people.

Yes, we're hearing from the Senate race in Texas,

and we're asking how much difference these record sums

are going to make to the electoral outcome.

Money is essential.

It is not possible to win without it,

but it is only one of a number of factors.

That's all to come in Business Daily from the BBC.

It's official. This year's midterms in the US are going to be record breaking.

Already more than $4.2 billion have been raised for campaigns across the country.

The final figures expected to breach $5 billion, a record sum for campaigns across the country. The final figures expected to

breach $5 billion, a record sum for a midterm and not far short of the $6.5 billion that was raised

in the last presidential race. So what's going on? Why so much money? And what does it say

about the outcome and indeed the state of America's democracy?

First, let's look at the place where much of it typically derives Wall Street.

This year, unusually, US financiers are contributing more money to the Democrats than they are to the Republican Party.

Sheila Crumholtz is Executive Director of the Centre for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C., which monitors campaign spending.

Typically, we see Wall Street hewing toward the party in the majority in Congress.

And over time, it gives slightly more to Republicans, about 53% since 1989.

But this year, more money is going to Democrats, especially

...