[chongli]

This is basically political fundraising, where rich people signal-boost their preferred candidate and help them attract lots of donors from the public.

I think the fundamental piece you're missing is the Pareto principle. In any popularity contest, the most attention accrues to the most popular. This naturally leads to a power law distribution in popularity.

[judahmeek]

I'm actually wondering if Citizens United will prove to be a stabilizing force.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/18/politics/texas-senate-primary... shows that, in this year's Texas race, the centrists are getting more funding than the culture warriors even though the culture warriors are more popular.

Granted, that's only a single data point.