Category Archives: campaigns

Ken Doyle: “Shadow Parties’ Dominate Campaign Spending in Midterms”

October 26, 2018, 7:53 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Ken Doyle for Bloomberg (I miss his daily Money & Politics report in my inbox): “Shadow parties,” outside groups allied with Democratic and Republican leaders, are eclipsing traditional political parties, according to two new studies of campaign spending in the… Continue reading

“Texts to voters purportedly from Trump roil Kansas election”

October 26, 2018, 7:41 amcampaignsRick Hasen

AP: Kansas election officials are reviewing text messages claiming to be from President Donald Trump and telling residents that their early votes hadn’t been recorded, as Democratic leaders were quick Thursday to worry that they were part of efforts to… Continue reading

“NC candidate and campaign manager accused of trying to intimidate voters”

October 26, 2018, 7:38 amcampaignsRick Hasen

News & Observer: A voter said Rep. Chris Malone asked her whether she was preparing to vote twice while she waited at an early-voting site this week, in an attempt to intimidate her. Another woman said she overheard a man… Continue reading

“How ActBlue is trying to turn small donations into a blue wave”

October 25, 2018, 11:53 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

CPI: ActBlue, a nonprofit whose online fundraising tools have been used to varying degrees by nearly every Democrat running for Congress, says it has raised more than $2.9 billion for Democrats and progressive organizations since its founding in 2004. September… Continue reading

“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