Trevor Potter oped: The openness of the Trump campaign to obtain help from the Russian government is most clearly illustrated by communications of Trump Jr. regarding the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower. He was told a “Russian government attorney” … Continue reading
Category Archives: campaigns
I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: Since the announcement of special counsel Robert Mueller’s decision to not indict President Donald Trump for obstruction of justice or any members of Trump’s family, critics of Trump who still feel … Continue reading
Politico: Deep-pocketed Republicans who snubbed Donald Trump in 2016 are going all in for him in 2020, throwing their weight behind a newly created fundraising drive that’s expected to dump tens of millions into his reelection coffers.The effort involves scores … Continue reading
CPI reports. … Continue reading
WaPo: Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of the “sweeping and systematic fashion” in which Russia interfered in the 2016 election highlights the breadth and complexity of the U.S. voting infrastructure that needs protecting.From voter registration to the vote … Continue reading
I ended my recent Slate piece on Mueller’s decision not to prosecute Donald Trump Jr. for campaign finance violations with this statement: Further, even if Mueller believed there were First Amendment questions in play, he should have left that for … Continue reading
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy for The Atlantic. … Continue reading
Washington Post: President Trump on Thursday joked about serving more than two terms as president, telling a crowd that he might remain in the Oval Office “at least for 10 or 14 years.”Trump made the comments on the same day … Continue reading
Politico: Hundreds of the biggest Democratic fundraisers in the past two presidential elections are already picking candidates for 2020 — and Kamala Harris has a significant early edge, while Pete Buttigieg and his from-scratch campaign has scrambled into the second … Continue reading
WaPo: In what will stand as among the most definitive public accounts of the Kremlin’s attack on the American political system, the report of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation laid out in precise, chronological detail how “the Russian … Continue reading
I expect we will hear a lot more about this new report: The political Left often criticizes—and the mainstream media frequently report on—the network of center-right nonprofits funded by billionaire entrepreneurs Charles and David Koch. But few politicos know of … Continue reading
Carrie Levine for CPI/538: But the time and energy going into cultivating a grassroots donor base early in the election cycle also carries clear benefits for the party and its eventual nominee — namely, a potentially massive pool of proven … Continue reading
Politico: Rep. Maxine Waters is embracing corporate campaign contributions as the new chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, even as some progressive Democrats have sworn off fundraising from businesses.The California Democrat’s campaign received about $210,329 in contributions during the … Continue reading
NYT: The two presidential candidates who entered 2019 with the largest bases of supporters — President Trump and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont — led the 2020 field in fund-raising in the first quarter of the year.Presidential candidates were under … Continue reading
Axios: The Trump campaign is spending nearly half (44%) of its Facebook ad budget to target users who are over 65 years old, as opposed to Democratic candidates who are only spending 27% of their budget on that demographic, according … Continue reading
I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: Attorney General William Barr has indicated that a redacted version of the Mueller report is likely to be sent to Congress this week and made public. It could come any day now, though … Continue reading
City & State reports. … Continue reading
WSJ: Before any well-known Democrats even began their White House bids, President Trump’s re-election team had spent more than $83 million on rallies, fundraising and other expenses associated with the thick of a heated race.Mr. Trump set up his 2020 operation as … Continue reading
The New Yorker reports. … Continue reading
NYT: In June 2016, five months before the American presidential election, Julian Assange made a bold prediction during a little-noticed interview with a British television show.“WikiLeaks has a very big year ahead,” he said, just seconds after announcing that the … Continue reading
WaPo: The limited early fundraising hauls announced by Democratic presidential hopefuls show that no clear front-runner has yet emerged in the race, and portend a drawn-out and divisive primary slog before the party unifies against President Trump.The overall sum raised by nearly … Continue reading
WaPo: While much attention has focused on the question of whether the Trump campaign encouraged or conspired with Russia, the effort to target Sanders supporters has been a lesser-noted part of the story. Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, in … Continue reading
Monkey Cage: In his new book, “Who Wants to Run?” Stanford University political scientist Andrew Hall investigates a familiar question — why Congress is so polarized — but comes to a less familiar answer. He writes, “Most legislative polarization is already baked into the … Continue reading
Issue One: Issue One was joined today by 15 other organizations from across the ideological spectrum in urging all Republican and Democratic presidential candidates to publicly disclose information about their campaign top fundraisers on a regular basis during the 2020 presidential election.Presidential candidates … Continue reading
NYT’s The Upshot. … Continue reading
WSJ: The Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office has gathered more evidence than previously known in its criminal investigation of hush payments to two women who alleged affairs with Donald Trump, including from members of the president’s inner circle.Prosecutors interviewed Hope Hicks, … Continue reading
NYT: Less than a month after suing Twitter for allowing its users to insult him, Representative Devin Nunes, a Republican from California, said he was suing the McClatchy Company, a newspaper chain, over what he called “character assassination.”The defamation lawsuit seeks … Continue reading
Detroit News: Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has agreed to settle a lawsuit over a ban on so-called ballot selfies.Joel Crookston, a voter in the Kalamazoo area, sued in 2016 to try to stop Michigan’s ban on taking photos of … Continue reading
John Koza, the force behind the National Popular Vote initiative writes: Ohio news organizations have been trying to identify the mysterious backers of an initiative petition proposing an amendment to the Ohio Constitution requiring the Ohio legislature to guarantee the … Continue reading
WSJ: The House Intelligence Committee is seeking an interview with and documents from a top organizer on President Trump’s inaugural committee, according to people familiar with the request, signaling that Congress is expanding its probe of how the fund raised … Continue reading
Politico: Top black donors and operatives are calling on fellow Democrats to abandon their push against super PACs, arguing that one of Democrats’ most popular 2020 talking points will ultimately cut off much-needed resources for candidates of color.In a letter … Continue reading
SSRC: In this conversation hosted by the Media & Democracy program, program officer Mike Miller discusses the trajectory of campaign financing in recent elections with Ciara Torres-Spelliscy (Stetson University) and Heath Brown (John Jay College of Criminal Justice). In particular, they address … Continue reading
The Fix reports. … Continue reading
Smart Shane Goldmacher and Jontahan Martin in the NYT: The race for cash in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary is reaching a frenetic peak this weekend with a dozen fund-raisers on both coasts, as presidential hopefuls rush to vacuum up … Continue reading
NYT: Campaigning for Ukraine’s presidential election had just begun to heat up when the authorities announced they had thwarted a Russian plot to use Facebook to undermine the vote. Unlike the 2016 interference in the United States, which centered on … Continue reading
Super interesting article in PS by Kirby Goidel, Keith Gaddie and Spencer Goidel. Here is the abstract: Using content analysis and original survey data, we investigated the news coverage and consequences of Donald Trump’s “rigged-election” claims during the 2016 presidential … Continue reading
WSJ reports. … Continue reading
Open Secrets: The Center for Responsive Politics is pleased to announce the publication of “Race, Gender, and Money in Politics: Campaign Finance and Federal Candidates in the 2018 Midterms.” Written by Sarah Bryner, the Center’s research director, and Grace Haley, the Center’s … Continue reading
NBC News reports. … Continue reading
This story is going to get bigger: The Republican National Committee promised an “evening reception with Donald J. Trump” last March at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla.A contribution of $2,700 toward the president’s re-election would get you in … Continue reading
News & Observer: Like the election fraud controversy itself, the special election will attract national attention. Some analysts say it could be a preview of 2020 in what once again is expected to be a swing state, as well as the state … Continue reading
Kate Ackley for Roll Call. … Continue reading
WaPo: Documents unsealed Thursday in a lawsuit have shed new light on how hackers breached Democratic Party email accounts before the 2016 election.The documents include a forensic analysis by a former top official in the FBI’s cybercrime division, which concluded … Continue reading
From the introduction: A new election is the gravest remedy available to this State agency that has, for a century, supervised elections meant to ensure “[a]ll political power is vested in and derived from the people; all government of right … Continue reading
WBTV: The Department of Justice has issued subpoenas for a federal grand jury investigation into allegations of election fraud in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District.The US Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section has issued at least three subpoenas for documents … Continue reading
ProPublica: n 2018, Facebook and Twitter decided to play a role in helping people register to vote in what promised to be a momentous midterm election. To do so, the social media platforms directed users almost exclusively to a website … Continue reading
Philip Bump for WaPo. … Continue reading
Daily Beast: The fight over big money in the 2020 Democratic primary is reaching a new pitch on Friday with an open letter from advocates aimed at presidential candidates benefiting from a single-candidate Super PAC.End Citizens United, the Progressive Change … Continue reading
WaPo: President Trump and his advisers are launching a behemoth 2020 campaign operation combining his raw populist message from 2016 with a massive data-gathering and get-out-the-vote push aimed at dwarfing any previous presidential reelection effort, according to campaign advisers, White … Continue reading
A lot going on in this CNBC story by Christina Wilkie. … Continue reading