AP reports. As with the voter id bill, this one may be subject to a veto override. Republicans want a new primary in case the Republican candidate, Mark Harris, is tainted by the allegations of fraud in Bladen County. … Continue reading
Category Archives: campaigns
WaPo: New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood announced that the Donald J. Trump Foundation is dissolving as her office pursues its lawsuit against the charity, Trump and his three eldest children. The attorney general’s suit, filed in June, alleged “persistently … Continue reading
WRAL editorial: It is hard to imagine where the North Carolina GOP leadership found the gall to have the Ninth Congressional District Republican Executive Committee pass a “resolution” demanding the State Board of Elections “immediately certify” Mark Harris the winner of that district’s … Continue reading
Star Advertiser: Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard was born a U.S. citizen and served two tours of duty in the Middle East as a member of the Army National Guard. She’s served in elective office — as a member of the Hawaii … Continue reading
Philip Bump for WaPo: When Georgia’s secretary of state, Brian Kemp, announced on the weekend before this year’s midterm elections that Democrats in the state had tried to illegally access the state’s voter database, the announcement was treated with a … Continue reading
NYT: The Russian influence campaign on social media in the 2016 election made an extraordinary effort to target African-Americans, used an array of tactics to try to suppress turnout among Democratic voters and unleashed a blizzard of posts on Instagram … Continue reading
NBC News: Donald Trump was the third person in the room in August 2015 when his lawyer Michael Cohen and National Enquirer publisher David Pecker discussed ways Pecker could help counter negative stories about Trump’s relationships with women, NBC News has confirmed. As part … Continue reading
WSJ: Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating whether President Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee misspent some of the record $107 million it raised from donations, people familiar with the matter said. The criminal probe by the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, which is … Continue reading
NPR: Pat Melvin, a realtor in Elizabethtown, N.C., has been a friend of Dowless for 30 years. He says the accusations being made against Dowless and the Harris campaign are going to ruin politics in the state’s 9th District. “We’ll … Continue reading
Steven Sholk’s annual review, now ready for your downloading pleasure. … Continue reading
This is the podcast you’ve been waiting for: President Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to several crimes, including illegally making hush money payments to two women alleging affairs with then-candidate … Continue reading
WaPo: The Senate on Wednesday voted 50 to 49 to overturn a Trump administration policy that allows politically active nonprofits to withhold from the government the identities of their donors, underscoring a growing unease among Democrats over the influence of … Continue reading
NYT: Until this week, it was largely Mr. Cohen’s word against the president’s denials. That is why the admission by A.M.I. is “highly significant, because it goes to corroborate” Mr. Cohen’s testimony, said Jeff Tsai, part of the prosecution team … Continue reading
From a DOJ release: The Office also announced today that it has previously reached a non-prosecution agreement with AMI, in connection with AMI’s role in making the above-described $150,000 payment before the 2016 presidential election. As a part of the … Continue reading
NYT reports. … Continue reading
NBC News: McCrae Dowless, the man whose “get-out-the-vote” activities are the center of the election fraud investigation in North Carolina, told a local political campaign volunteer that he was holding onto 800 absentee ballots, according to a new affidavit obtained … Continue reading
Fredreka Schouten for CNN. … Continue reading
Shane Goldmacher for the NYT: It is one of the most potent and feared weapons in the arsenal of modern American politics: the super PAC. But as three dozen Democrats ponder presidential runs in 2020 and begin to design their … Continue reading
Charlie Savage in the NYT: President Trump defended himself on Monday against prosecutors’ accusation that he directed illegal payments ahead of the 2016 election to two women to stay silent about alleged extramarital affairs with him, insisting that the payments were “a … Continue reading
I spoke to the PBS News Hour about the President and the alleged campaign finance violations. … Continue reading
Politico: The Democrat in a North Carolina congressional race marred by accusations of election fraud said Monday that his team is already preparing for the possibility of a special election that would supersede the allegedly tainted contest held last month. … Continue reading
Philly Inquirer reports. … Continue reading
This Chicago Tribune story shows us how little has changed since Abner Mikva’s “we don’t want nobody nobody sent: To get on the ballot, Krupa was required to file 473 valid signatures of ward residents with the Chicago Board of … Continue reading
Politico: “They pick these people who’ve self-destructed their life, then they’re guinea pigs for whatever comes along to make a dollar,” said Sarah Jane Benson, whose family owns a restaurant in Bladenboro. “If it hadn’t been McCrae, it’d been somebody … Continue reading
Great to talk to June Grasso of Bloomberg Law. Listen. … Continue reading
Corporate Counsel: Midterm contribution records from Political MoneyLine show corporations gave big to both parties in the AG races. For instance, DAGA’s top contributors were unions such as the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers ($350,000), its top donor. But Altria Group Inc. ($200,000), … Continue reading
NYT: The congressional campaign of Mark Harris disclosed late Thursday night that it owed more than $34,000 in connection with an absentee ballot and voter turnout operation that has prompted fears of election fraud and called the North Carolina Republican’s … Continue reading
BuzzFeed: The allegations that Republicans tampered with absentee ballots in a close North Carolina election represent the most serious federal election tampering case in years, one that allegedly stole votes from elderly black voters in the state’s rural south. Now two women intimately involved with McCrae … Continue reading
WSOC reports. … Continue reading
Politico: The House GOP campaign arm suffered a major hack during the 2018 election, exposing thousands of sensitive emails to an outside intruder, according to three senior party officials. The email accounts of four senior aides at the National Republican … Continue reading
Tampa Bay Times: The Florida Democratic Party has hired an investigator to dig into altered “cure affidavit” forms sent out to voters whose mail-in ballots had missing or non-matching signatures, according to a statement released by the party’s lawyer. “Upon … Continue reading
Bob Bauer for The Atlantic: It is a strange turn of events when a president famous for denouncing “fake news” is discovered to have entered into an agreement with a media organization to finance the concealment of very real but politically … Continue reading
Philip Bump for WaPo. … Continue reading
Reuters: If the goals of spreading divisive content have remained the same, the methods have evolved in multiple ways, researchers say. For one, there has been less reliance on pure fiction. People have been sensitized to look for completely false … Continue reading
Politico: House Democrats have exploited campaign finance law to pay rent for dozens of campaign offices used by their candidates in 2018 — an arrangement that’s further padded the party’s massive financial advantage in the midterms even as Republicans cry … Continue reading
Follow the Money blog. … Continue reading
CFI Analysis. … Continue reading
Y’all Politics. … Continue reading
Bob Bauer and Ryan Goodman for Just Security. … Continue reading
Splinter reports. … Continue reading
CPI: Want to influence Tuesday’s midterm election but keep your identity secret from voters? No problem. Here’s how you do it: Step 1. Pick a super PAC name, treasurer and bank account. Step 2. File a short form with the … Continue reading
Arkansas Online: A federal judge on Thursday denied Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Courtney Goodson’s request for an injunction to stop attack ads that have been airing against Goodson during her re-election campaign. The ruling, by U.S. District Judge Brian Miller, came … Continue reading
Public Citizen: Fifty-six rich election donors have poured at least $2 million each into super PAC groups this election season, more than double the level in the 2014 midterms and a record for any midterm election, according to a report (PDF) by … Continue reading
This is interesting. Also interesting: the use that is being made of Facebook’s disclosure requirements. Sure seems to me to be an argument for mandatory disclosure of campaign ads. Don’t voters want to know who is behind these messages. … Continue reading
ProPublica: A Facebook ad in October urged political conservatives to support the Trump administration’s rollback of fuel emission standards, which it hailed as “our president’s car freedom agenda” and “plan for safer, cheaper cars that WE get to choose.” The ad came … Continue reading
Campaign Finance Institute: The year 2018 saw a record number of women candidates competing in major party primary elections*, with another record number making it through to next week’s general election. An analysis by the Campaign Finance Institute of pre-general … Continue reading
Fredreka Schouten for CNN. … Continue reading
NYT: A structure unknown even to some of those involved, Floridians for a Fair Shake and 13 other groups around the country are funded and coordinated out of a single office in Washington, with the goal of battering Republicans for … Continue reading
Release via email: More than 500 leadership PACs operated by sitting members of Congress raised over $150 million so far this election cycle. Of this sum, more than 60 percent came from political action committees (PACs) connected to companies, trade … Continue reading
NYT: For the final two weeks of the election, Democratic campaigns and outside groups are on track to substantially outspend Republicans, strategists on both sides say. Democrats are set to spend $143 million on television advertising in House races, compared … Continue reading