Category Archives: campaign finance

“Independent Spending in 2020 Congressional Elections Has Surpassed the $1 Billion Mark”

October 16, 2020, 3:18 pmcampaign financeRick Hasen

Campaign Finance Institute: Independent spending (IEs) in the general elections of 2020 for the U.S. House and Senate reached $1.035 billion as of October 15. This is nearly one-third of a billion dollars more than congressional IEs as of… Continue reading

“How Trump’s Tax Records Could Point to Campaign Finance Violations”

October 16, 2020, 3:06 pmcampaign financeRick Hasen

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy for the Brennan Center.

“Adelsons pour $75M into last-ditch effort to save Trump”

October 15, 2020, 1:07 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Politico: Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam Adelson gave $75 million to a super PAC that flooded battleground states with anti-Joe Biden ads in September, a huge investment from the GOP megadonors as President Donald Trump slipped in… Continue reading

“ActBlue’s stunning third quarter: $1.5 billion in donations”

October 15, 2020, 12:30 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Politico: Democratic candidates and left-leaning groups raised $1.5 billion through ActBlue over the last three months — a record-smashing total that reveals the overwhelming financial power small-dollar donors have unleashed up and down the ballot ahead of the 2020 election.From… Continue reading

“Biden raised whopping $383M in September”

October 14, 2020, 8:59 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Politico: Joe Biden announced Wednesday evening that his campaign and affiliated committees raised $383 million in September, breaking a record he had just set the prior month as his campaign continues to ride a surge of online donations.Biden, the… Continue reading

“Trump Years Show Boom for Company Adoption of Political Disclosure and Accountability, According to 2020 CPA-Zicklin Index”

October 13, 2020, 9:05 pmcampaign financeRick Hasen

Release.

“Trump Campaign Suggests Omarosa Manigault Newman Pay for $1 Million in Ad Spending”

October 13, 2020, 11:44 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

NYT: The Trump campaign has suggested that Omarosa Manigault Newman, a former White House aide, pay for an ad campaign costing nearly $1 million as a “corrective” remedy for her critical comments about President Trump in her 2018 book and… Continue reading

“‘Green tsunami’: Inside Senate Republicans’ financial freak-out”

October 12, 2020, 9:13 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Politico: The online fundraising edge that Democrats have enjoyed for years has mushroomed into an overpowering force, with small-dollar donors smashing “donate” buttons over the last three months to process their disgust for President Donald Trump, fury with Senate… Continue reading

“Jaime Harrison raised record-breaking $57 million in third quarter, campaign says”

October 11, 2020, 9:50 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

WaPo: Democrat Jaime Harrison raised a record-breaking $57 million in the past three months in his bid to unseat Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), shattering the mark for a Senate candidate.The single-quarter haul Harrison raised from July through September smashes… Continue reading

“Trump Engineered a Sudden Windfall in 2016 A Campaign Funds Dwindled”

October 9, 2020, 9:03 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

NYT: Donald J. Trump needed money.His “self-funded” presidential campaign was short on funds, and he was struggling to win over leery Republican donors. His golf courses and the hotel he would soon open in the Old Post Office in… Continue reading

Mitch McConnell Laments the Small Donor Revolution

October 9, 2020, 7:51 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

I’m going to have a lot more to say about this after the election: On Thursday, in a conference call with a group of lobbyists, Mr. McConnell vented that the party’s Senate candidates are being financially overwhelmed because of small-dollar… Continue reading

“Trump’s New Supreme Court Is Coming for the Next Dozen Elections”

October 5, 2020, 10:54 amcampaign finance, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

I have written this piece for New York. It begins: When Judge Amy Coney Barrett sits for questions before the Senate Judiciary Committee in mid-October, no doubt Democrats will pepper her with questions about whether she would recuse herself in… Continue reading

“Campaign Finance and American Democracy: What The Public Really Thinks and Why It Matters”

October 2, 2020, 1:20 pmcampaign financeRick Hasen

Looking forward to reading this new book from David Primo and Jeff Milyo.

“Court reopens door to ‘dark money’ in Arizona political races”

October 1, 2020, 10:05 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

Tuscon.com: The Arizona Court of Appeals has reinstated a 2017 law that opens the door to “dark money” contributions to political races.The judges said Tuesday that the Republican-controlled Legislature was within its rights to decide that any group the… Continue reading