KNOXVILLE — The race for governor is now the most expensive in state history.
The latest campaign finance reports said the six leading candidates have spent more than $50 million so far.
"In general, the trend has been an upward one, with it just costing more and more for someone to serve in public office," Dr. Katie Cahill said.
Cahill is with the Howard Baker Jr. Center at UT said spending has made this governor's race the most expensive in state history.
"We see that actually most of the spending in this particular race at the gubernatorial level has been from personal contributions," Cahill said.
The latest campaign finance reports show spending through July 23rd.
Republican candidate Randy Boyd was at the top. He spent $21 million, about $19 million of that came from his personal money.
Diane Black has spent nearly $14 million, with more than $12 million coming from personal money.
Bill Lee has spent nearly $7 million, with $5.2 million from personal money.
Beth Harwell has spent about $4.3 million, with $3.1 million coming from personal money.
On the Democratic side, the candidates are spending much less.
$4.4 million for Karl Dean, and less than a million dollars for Craig Fitzhugh.
"When you think about the number of people that came out to vote versus what has been spent, we see that Republican candidates have spent $117 per Republican primary vote, where democrats have spent about $25 per primary vote," Cahill said.
But most Americans aren't fans of pricey politics.
A pew research poll released in may found 77 percent of Americans say there should be limits to campaign spending.
"I didn't quite realize that my vote was worth as much, but I think that I should've had that perspective, because our votes decide our future, and we should value them," Cahill said. "Because I think the candidates do."