NYT: He is not as well known as wealthy liberal patrons like George Soros or Tom Steyer. His political activism is channeled through a daisy chain of opaque organizations that mask the ultimate recipients of his money. But the Swiss … Continue reading
Category Archives: campaigns
Axios: Political advertising has quickly begun to migrate over to connected TV (CTV), or digital and streaming television, according to new data.Why it matters: “If the current trends of explosive growth in CTV viewership continue, we could see a tipping … Continue reading
WSJ: Dozens of chief executives and other senior leaders gathered on Zoom this weekend to plot what several said big businesses should do next about new voting laws under way in Texas and other states.Kenneth Chenault, the former chief executive … Continue reading
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy is a guest of Dahlia Lithwick on Slate’s “Amicus” podcast. … Continue reading
You can watch here (with registration, about 18 minutes into the show), or read the transcript. … Continue reading
NYT reports. … Continue reading
WaPo: Facebook page shows a child scampering down a school corridor, alerting Ohio families to a scholarship program.Chatter fills the same page with news ranging from a state anti-corruption bill to the vibrant local real estate market. “It’s a great … Continue reading
Must-read Shane Goldmacher NYT piece: Stacy Blatt was in hospice care last September listening to Rush Limbaugh’s dire warnings about how badly Donald J. Trump’s campaign needed money when he went online and chipped in everything he could: $500.It was … Continue reading
Jonathan Swan for Axios: On a flight Tuesday from Indianapolis to Fort Wayne, Ind., two leaders in the House Republican conference discussed a memo that argues that their party’s future demands they “embrace our new coalition” because “President Trump’s gift didn’t come … Continue reading
NYT: Mr. Trump’s maneuvering is born partly out of his anger toward Republican leaders who he feels were disloyal when they edged away from him after Jan. 6. The former president is also being encouraged by people like Dick Morris, … Continue reading
Politico: President Donald Trump told political advisers Thursday that he’s chosen longtime ally Corey Lewandowski to run a yet-to-be-formed super PAC as part of his expanding post-presidential political apparatus, according to multiple people familiar with the discussion.The decision was made … Continue reading
Axios: In the second half of 2020, Donald Trump’s reelection campaign shelled out seven figures to an influencer marketing business linked to his White House’s former chief digital officer.Why it matters: The payments bought promotion from prominent conservative brands and social … Continue reading
Eugene Volokh in Tablet Mag: In 2016, a Florida man named Douglass Mackey (using the online alias “Ricky Vaughn”) allegedly conspired to distribute a meme aimed at deceiving pro-Hillary voters.Four years later, Mackey is now being prosecuted (as to this and as … Continue reading
NYT: The death of Sheldon G. Adelson, the casino magnate who used his vast fortune to tip the balance of power in Washington over the last decade by helping Republicans take control of the House, the Senate and eventually the White … Continue reading
AP reports: The Democrats running for Georgia’s two U.S. Senate seats each raised more than $100 million over two months, a massive haul that eclipsed campaign contributions to their Republican opponents and reflects the high stakes of the twin contests.Jon Ossoff, … Continue reading
NYT: Donald J. Trump will exit the White House as a private citizen next month perched atop a pile of campaign cash unheard-of for an outgoing president, and with few legal limits on how he can spend it.Deflated by a … Continue reading
Politico: President Donald Trump couldn’t make it any clearer: He needs his supporters to fork over cash for the all-important Georgia Senate runoff elections.“We MUST defend Georgia from the Dems!” he wrote in one recent text message. “I need YOU … Continue reading
Tamara Keith for NPR: After President Trump lost the election to President-elect Joe Biden, the campaign’s emails and texts to supporters carried on, urgently pushing them to donate money — a strategy that seems to have paid off.The Trump campaign, … Continue reading
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy for the Brennan Center. … Continue reading
WaPo: In the wake of the election, President Trump’s supporters have been peppered with texts and emails asking for donations to support legal battles contesting his loss to President-elect Joe Biden.“We can’t allow the Left-wing MOB to undermine our Election,” … Continue reading
Star Tribune: The Minneapolis police union put out a call this week for retired officers to help serve as “eyes and ears” at polling sites in “problem” areas across the city on Election Day, at the request of an attorney … Continue reading
Wichita Eagle: A secret recording released Friday shows that three Republican officials sought to frame the county’s Republican chairman for a falsified ad they put together smearing then-mayoral candidate Brandon Whipple. One compared their mission to that of the man … Continue reading
WSJ: Facebook is demanding that a New York University research project cease collecting data about its political-ad targeting practices, setting up a fight with academics seeking to study the platform without the company’s permission.The dispute involves the NYU Ad Observatory, … Continue reading
NYT: President Trump called Facebook and Twitter “terrible” and “a monster” and said he would go after them. Senators Ted Cruz and Marsha Blackburn said they would subpoena the chief executives of the companies for their actions. And on Fox … Continue reading
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
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
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 Democratic National Committee … Continue reading
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 Majority … Continue reading
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
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 Washington … Continue reading
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
Bloomberg Government: The 2020 election has generated a record $13.3 billion in federal campaign contributions, funding a barrage of political advertising that strategists say risks blurring candidate messaging.The unprecedented outpouring of campaign cash raised through Sept. 28 is more than … Continue reading
Daily Beast: Over three million Black voters in key states were identified by President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign as people they had to persuade to stay at home on Election Day to help him reach the White House.The revelation comes from an … Continue reading
CNN: Facebook (FB) has allowed political advertisers to target hundreds of misleading ads about Joe Biden and the US Postal Service to swing-state voters ranging from Florida to Wisconsin in recent weeks, in an apparent failure to enforce its own platform rules … Continue reading
NYT: Facebook has detected limited Chinese operations intended to both help and hurt President Trump’s re-election chances, the company announced on Tuesday, the first public disclosure of Chinese efforts to influence the presidential election in November.The Chinese activity, while modest … Continue reading
Video Insider: Political ads have followed consumers to popular streaming services. But unlike traditional TV broadcasters, streamers are not required to disclose how ads are targeted or who is viewing them. And while social media platforms have begun to come under … Continue reading
Axios reports. … Continue reading
Shane Goldmacher for the NYT: Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s campaign said on Sunday that it entered September with $466 million in the bank together with the Democratic Party, providing Mr. Biden a vast financial advantage of about $141 million over President … Continue reading
Politico: Republican Party megadonors are racing to bail out President Donald Trump’s cash-strapped reelection campaign, with a newly formed super PAC pouring a further$25 million into battleground states.Preserve America is set to begin running a trio of TV commercials savaging … Continue reading
NYU: Transparency in political ads is vital to ensuring safe and fair elections, but transparency is difficult if advertisers are not required to disclose details about targeting and sources of funding. While TV broadcasters must disclose information about political ads … Continue reading
CNBC: Casino magnate and Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson is plotting a spending blitz to support President Donald Trump with just under 50 days to go until Election Day, CNBC has learned. Adelson, CEO of Las Vegas Sands, is looking to spend … Continue reading
Washington Post: One tweet claimed coronavirus numbers were intentionally inflated, adding, “It’s hard to know what to believe.” Another warned, “Don’t trust Dr. Fauci.”A Facebook comment argued that mail-in ballots “will lead to fraud for this election,” while an Instagram comment amplified the erroneous claim that … Continue reading
Tech Crunch: A privacy bug in Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s official campaign app allowed anyone to look up sensitive voter information on millions of Americans, a security researcher has found.The campaign app, Vote Joe, allows Biden supporters to encourage friends and family … Continue reading
Politico: George Soros directs a “deep state” global conspiracy network. A Joe Biden win would put America in control of “Jews and Blacks.” The Democratic nominee has a pedophilia problem.Wild disinformation like this is inundating Spanish-speaking residents of South Florida … Continue reading
So troubling: Facebook ignored or was slow to act on evidence that fake accounts on its platform have been undermining elections and political affairs around the world, according to an explosive memo sent by a recently fired Facebook employee and … Continue reading
A wow story in the New Yorker: On its face, Phunware seems like a strange choice to develop the campaign’s app. Before working for President Trump, Phunware’s software was being used in relatively few applications, the most popular being a … Continue reading
NYT: Michael R. Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor and presidential candidate, announced Sunday that he planned to spend $100 million in Florida in the coming weeks to support Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s presidential candidacy.The pledge came as new polls showed a particularly … Continue reading
Politico: Democrats are amassing an enormous lead in early voting, alarming Republicans who worry they’ll need to orchestrate a huge Election Day turnout during a deadly coronavirus outbreak to answer the surge.The Democratic dominance spreads across an array of battleground … Continue reading
WaPo: President Trump’s campaign, the Republican National Committee and two affiliated fundraising committees on Wednesday announced raising $210 million in August — a sizable sum that still lags behind Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s record-breaking haul last month.The RNC said $76 million … Continue reading
Politico: Most campaigns merely post their television spots on the site. Trump’s YouTube channel, however, is a voluminous and unique collection of news, campaign ads and original web shows. Negative ads like “Don’t let them ruin America” are paired with … Continue reading