Category Archives: campaigns

“Independent Spending Continues Record Pace; Party Groups Lead The Way”

October 23, 2018, 7:13 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Campaign Finance Institute: Independent expenditures (IEs) reported to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for general election House and Senate contests have continued on a record pace, totaling $695 million through October 21st. This is $103 million more than on the… Continue reading

“Republicans Hold Cash Edge Heading Into Final Stretch of the Midterms”

October 21, 2018, 7:17 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

NYT: The most recent round of campaign finance disclosures, filed Saturday, showed that Republican national party committees, candidates in key House and Senate races and their top unlimited-money outside groups, or “super PACs,” had $337 million on hand as of… Continue reading

“Justice Dept. charges Russian woman with interference in Midterm elections”

October 19, 2018, 11:32 amcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

WaPo: The Justice Department on Friday charged a Russian woman for her role in a conspiracy to interfere with the 2018 U.S. election, marking the first criminal case prosecutors have brought against a foreign national for meddling in the upcoming… Continue reading

“Election Update: Democrats’ Unprecedented Fundraising Edge Is Scary For Republicans … And Our Model”

October 19, 2018, 9:08 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Nate Silver: The fundraising numbers are so good for Democrats — and so bad for Republicans — that it’s a little bit hard to know quite what to make of them. From a modelling standpoint, we’re extrapolating from years in… Continue reading

“Fake intern who recorded McCaskill campaign had access to voter info, campaign says”

October 18, 2018, 3:33 pmcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

KC Star: A conservative activist with Project Veritas posed as an intern with U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill’s campaign and had access to voter information, according to a stack of documents McCaskill’s lawyer delivered to Attorney General Josh Hawley’s office Friday.… Continue reading

“Cost of 2018 election to surpass $5 billion, CRP projects”

October 18, 2018, 9:21 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Open Secrets: This year’s midterm election cycle is slated to become the first and only member of the $5 billion club. The Center for Responsive Politics projects that more than $5 billion will be spent during the 2018 election, making… Continue reading

Local South Carolina Candidate Seeks Injunction to Bar Allegedly False Statements on Facebook by Fake Democratic Group Supposedly Supporting Him

October 18, 2018, 8:40 amcampaignsRick Hasen

This is very interesting, though I don’t give it much chance (for example, it doesn’t cite to a single law that the allegedly false speech violates).

Facebook’s Political Disclosure Rules Aren’t Working —And Things Will Get Much Worse if Facebook Doesn’t Change

October 18, 2018, 7:32 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Back in April, I had a post where I expressed skepticism that Facebook’s plan for voluntary disclosure of who is running political ads will actually work. Here’s a snippet: Here’s a hypothetical to flesh out some issues. Let’s assume that… Continue reading

“Democratic candidates for Congress have raised a record-shattering $1 billion this election”

October 18, 2018, 7:06 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

WaPo: Democratic candidates running for Congress this year collectively raised more than $1 billion for their campaigns — a record-shattering sum that highlights the party’s zeal to retake the House and Senate and underscores the enormous amount of money flowing… Continue reading

“Counterfeit Campaign Speech”

October 17, 2018, 7:55 amcampaignsRick Hasen

Rebecca Green at the HLR Blog.

“Small Donors Fuel a Big Democratic Lead in 2018 Fund-Raising”

October 16, 2018, 7:49 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

NYT: An army of Democrats giving money over the internet has lifted the party’s House candidates to a strong financial advantage over Republicans in the final weeks of the 2018 midterm election, with Democrats in the most competitive House races… Continue reading

“Donors to dark-money groups mostly hidden despite court ruling”

October 16, 2018, 11:12 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Politico: A series of court orders in September appeared poised to force so-called dark-money groups — which raise and spend unlimited sums from anonymous donors — to reveal some of their funders for the first time. But a month later,… Continue reading

“Trump tops $100 million in fundraising for his own reelection”

October 15, 2018, 8:06 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

WaPo: President Trump has topped $100 million in fundraising for his 2020 reelection bid — an enormous haul for a president barely two years into his first term, according to new Federal Election Commission filings. Trump pulled in $18.1 million… Continue reading