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July 20, 2023
Gallego outraises Sinema but falls far short of incumbent’s war chest in Arizona Senate race
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Incumbent Sen. Kristen Sinema (I-Ariz.) has yet to announce her reelection bid but added a net $800,000 to her campaign coffers
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Sen. Sherrod Brown’s fundraising overshadows GOP challengers in Ohio Senate race
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Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) has more cash on hand than his three GOP challengers combined, an OpenSecrets analysis of Federal Election Commission filings found.
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Elon Musk outmuscled by Mark Zuckerberg’s money in politics
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If the two billionaires had a political clout-measuring contest, it would be no contest for the Meta CEO.
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OpenSecrets' Chart of the Week
Dive deeper into the data behind the headlines
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A recent article in the Texas Observer [[link removed]] highlighted a mysterious one million dollar donation to Spirit of Virginia, the campaign committee affiliated with Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, that was made through a newly formed shell company out of Texas. Politicians and reformers say the donation shows a major loophole in campaign finance law.
“I would like to see legislation requiring more disclosures from donors, particularly when it comes to LLCs,” Virginia representative Don Scott Jr. told the Observer. “One of the ways very, very wealthy people influence our elections here in Virginia is by forming an LLC to shield who actually gave the money."
While federal campaign finance law requires political committees including super PACs to disclose donors, the ultimate source of their funding can be concealed behind contributions from shell companies or dark money groups.
The chart above shows that OpenSecrets has tracked more than $2.6 billion in dark money spending and contributions since the Supreme Court's FEC v. Citizens United decision in 2010. As dark money groups report less and less spending to the FEC but pour more money than ever into political contributions to other political committees, “gray money” — giving and spending by groups that do not fully disclose their donors — has also exploded.
Read our most recent report on dark money spending in the 2022 midterms for more on how this money is having an increasing influence our elections.
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OpenSecrets in the News
See our media citations from outlets around the nation this week:
Wall Street execs make first bets against Donald Trump in 2024 (CNBC) [[link removed]]
DeSantis took in at least 15 notable contributions from leaders in finance, including veteran hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones. Data from the nonpartisan OpenSecrets shows Jones has given to a variety of campaigns and outside groups involved with previous presidential elections.
Harlan Crow’s Real Estate Empire Is Thriving Despite Supreme Court Controversy (Bloomberg) [[link removed]]
Along with his wife Kathy, they’ve given more than $14 million to largely Republican candidates, committees and parties over the past three decades, according to OpenSecrets, which tracks campaign spending.
Nancy Pelosi is still raising money like someone running for re-election (San Francisco Chronicle) [[link removed]]
“The numbers she’s raising look like she’s running,” Douglas Weber, a senior researcher for OpenSecrets, said Tuesday. “But you never know.”
Sludge [[link removed]]
Lever News [[link removed]]
Tennessee Star [[link removed]]
Spectrum News San Antonio [[link removed]]
Dallas News [[link removed]]
Raw Story [[link removed]]
Common Dreams [[link removed]]
Bloomberg [[link removed]]
The Lexington Times [[link removed]]
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