Category Archives: campaign finance

“Elon Musk focuses donations on GOP lawmakers targeting judges”

April 16, 2025, 5:54 pmauthoritarian threats in US, campaign financeRick Hasen

WaPo: Elon Musk targeted a flurry of money in late March to support Republican members of Congress who endorsed legislation to impeach judges or restrict their power, new filings revealed, bolstering his own push to punish judges who rule against… Continue reading

“Newer Problems in an Old, Broken Campaign Finance Regime—A Post-2024 Reflection”

April 16, 2025, 12:08 pmcampaign financeRick Hasen

John Martin has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, University of Pittsburgh Law Review). Here is the abstract: Money in politics is ever-increasing in the United States, and the ways in which it manifests is ever-changing. The 2024 election cycle… Continue reading

“Trump IRS Pick Was Just Enriched By Tax Schemers; New documents show Billy Long’s $130,000 personal debt was suddenly paid off by donors at firms policed by the tax agency he’d lead.”

April 16, 2025, 7:22 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

The Lever: President Donald Trump’s choice for Internal Revenue Service director just had his six-figure debt paid off by campaign donors whose firms have significant, often contentious business before the tax agency he would lead, according to federal records reviewed… Continue reading

My New One at Slate: “What Elon Musk Won in Wisconsin”

April 3, 2025, 1:12 pmcampaign finance, judicial elections, Plutocrats United, redistrictingRick Hasen

I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: Democrats and progressives rightly celebrated the victory of liberal Susan Crawford over Trump-endorsed Brad Schimel for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. But the left is prematurely gloating over how… Continue reading

My New One at Slate: “The Ultrarich Have Reshaped Presidential Elections. Here’s Where They’re Looking Next. Billionaire money could have even more of an impact on these races than it did on the 2024 election.”

March 27, 2025, 6:48 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: Although it has been more than a decade since judicial and administrative rulings freed the ultrawealthy to contribute unlimited sums to outside political groups, 2024 marked a sea change in… Continue reading

“Musk Political Group Takes on Local Races and New Targets”

March 22, 2025, 2:31 amcampaign finance, campaignsDerek Muller

Wall Street Journal: As Elon Musk’s government-shrinking operation slashed its way through federal agencies across Washington this month, one of his top lieutenants turned his attention to a smaller political arena, more than 2,000 miles away. Chris Young, the… Continue reading

“Scoop: Musk’s PAC offers $100 to Wisconsin voters in pitch against ‘activist judges'”

March 21, 2025, 2:21 amcampaign finance, campaignsDerek Muller

Déjà vu all over again, from Axios.

March 28-29 Yale Conference: “Free Speech in Crisis and the Limits of the First Amendment”

March 19, 2025, 7:27 amcampaign finance, cheap speech, First Amendment theoryRick Hasen

Looking forward to speaking at this event (in person only): Recently, the law of free speech has been marked by two seemingly inconsistent phenomena. On the one hand, the Roberts Court has been both praised and decried for its highly… Continue reading

“Trump’s secret power protection plan”

March 10, 2025, 7:55 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

Axios: Anyone who thinks President Trump‘s mesmerizing hold over the GOP will slip if his poll numbers slide is missing one of his biggest innovations in American politics: The creation of a cash-flush political operation that has raked in… Continue reading

“In Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race, both sides take aim at the other’s billionaire backers”

March 8, 2025, 5:19 pmcampaign finance, judicial elections, Plutocrats UnitedRick Hasen

NBC News: The Wisconsin Supreme Court contest is shaping up to be a battle of billionaires, with each side in the race casting the other’s most prominent donors as boogeymen. Liberal megadonors like George Soros and outside groups with ties… Continue reading

“Despite Musk, progressives are winning the ad war in Wisconsin”

March 7, 2025, 6:32 amcampaign finance, campaigns, judicial electionsRick Hasen

The Downballot: Despite Elon Musk’s multi-million dollar spending spree, progressives retain an advantage on the airwaves in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race—and now they’re making an issue of Musk’s involvement, too. At the same time, a rare poll shows liberal Judge… Continue reading

“A test for judicial independence in Wisconsin; Elon Musk is spending big on the state’s Supreme Court race while expressing contempt for independent courts. That’s a worrisome combination.”

March 6, 2025, 7:20 amcampaign finance, judicial electionsRick Hasen

Rob Yablon for The Contrarian.

“ActBlue, the Democratic Fund-Raising Powerhouse, Faces Internal Chaos”

March 6, 2025, 6:55 amcampaign finance, chicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: ActBlue, the online fund-raising organization that powers Democratic candidates, has plunged into turmoil, with at least seven senior officials resigning late last month and a remaining lawyer suggesting he faced internal retaliation. The departures from ActBlue, which helps raise… Continue reading

“A Kennedy Ally Puts Money Into a Push to Recall Karen Bass”

March 5, 2025, 7:30 amcampaign finance, Plutocrats United, recall electionsRick Hasen

NYT: The first serious effort to recall Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles after the city’s devastating fires is taking shape, with financial backing from Nicole Shanahan, who was Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate in last year’s presidential election.… Continue reading