November 7, 2024

Ed. note: The Daily Media Update will return Tuesday, November 12.

Biden Administration

National Review: Let Trump’s Resounding Victory Be the End of Lawfare

By Andrew C. McCarthy

.....For four years, President Joe Biden divided the nation by weaponizing law enforcement against his political adversaries, appeasing America’s enemies, and ceding his administration to his party’s woke radicals. Now, with his failed presidency winding down, and with one more humiliation inevitable, Biden can act as the unifier he promised Americans he would be four years ago.

Let’s make a deal.

Congress

Washington Post (Tech Brief): What a GOP sweep of Congress would mean for tech policy

By Cristiano Lima-Strong

.....For years, Republicans focused their ire over allegations of bias in Silicon Valley at the tech companies and their content moderation decisions. More recently, their focus has shifted to contacts between those social media networks and the federal government.

But with Trump now set to retake the reins of the federal government, and with Republicans having been dealt a string of losses in court in their legal battles against alleged censorship, it’s unclear what legislative maneuvers they may pursue to tackle the issue. It is likely to be a top priority for the party again, particularly given Trump’s focus on it in his first term.

“Having control of both chambers [would give] the Republicans a strong foundation to really look at this issue in a way that they have not been able to in many years because of fragmented government,” Swarztrauber said.

Independent Groups

New York Times: Trump’s Victory Is a Major Win for Elon Musk and Big-Money Politics

By Theodore Schleifer and Susanne Craig

.....It is difficult to disentangle Mr. Musk’s ground work from other influences that propelled Mr. Trump to the White House. But there is little doubt that the election was a win not only for Mr. Musk but also big-money politics: An ultrawealthy donor took advantage of America’s evolving campaign-finance system to put his thumb on the scale like never before.

Mr. Musk almost single-handedly funded an effort that cost more than $175 million...

The super PAC’s apparent success could inspire similar efforts, helping to transform modern campaigns. New guidance from the Federal Election Commission, issued in March, now allows presidential campaigns to closely coordinate field operations with super PACs.

“There is no reason to expend the precious hard money of federal campaigns on ground game activities if there are outside organizations with a proven track record and a verifiable infrastructure,” said the conservative activist Ralph Reed, whose own super PAC, the Faith and Freedom Coalition, said it knocked on close to 10 million doors on Mr. Trump’s behalf.

Candidates and Campaigns

Wall Street Journal: How the Democrats Spent $1 Billion and Still Lost

By Jack Gillum and Anthony DeBarros

.....She took in more than $1.2 billion in contributions. Her donors numbered in the millions, including many new to the political process. But in the end, it didn’t matter.

Vice President Kamala Harris lost her bid for the White House on Wednesday despite spending most of the funds on an expansive ground operation, staffing and a flood of ads. President-elect Donald Trump won a second term with half of what Harris’s campaign spent.

OpenSecrets: Big money, big stakes: 5 things everyone should know about money in 2024 elections

By Albert Serna Jr. and Anna Massoglia

.....1. Cost of election to top $20 billion … but money doesn’t always win

OpenSecrets projects that the combined total for state and federal election spending in the 2023-2024 cycle will exceed $20 billion.

About $16 billion of that went to influence federal elections and another $4.6 billion was raised by state candidates, party committees and ballot measure committees for 2023 and 2024 elections. 

But big money doesn’t always result in a win. 

Despite Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign and outside groups outraising former President Donald Trump’s camp by hundreds of millions of dollars, the former president’s win in Wisconsin put him over the threshold of 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency.

OpenSecrets’ analysis of the most recent Federal Election Commission filings found that Harris’ campaign raised over $1 billion through mid-October, nearly three times the roughly $382 million the president-elect’s campaign raised during the same period. 

Outside spending is much closer with groups supporting Trump or opposing his opponents reporting about $1 billion in spending through Election Day while groups boosting Harris or attacking Trump reported spending $1.05 billion on the race. 

The States

Cowboy State Daily: Wyoming Election Shows Spending Big Doesn't Always Pay Off

By Leo Wolfson

.....Cheyenne resident Sara Burlingame spent the most of any official state Legislature candidate, doling out $26,735 during her general election campaign on mailers, TV and digital advertising efforts. Burlingame lost her race to Republican Jacob Wasserburger by 293 votes.

In total, based on the 1,481 votes she received, Burlingame spent $18.05 per vote.

Burlingame’s opponent Wasserburger spent $10,558 on his campaign that included radio, digital and physical mailers.

Wasserburger spent $5.95 per vote received based on the 1,774 votes he received.

New York Post: NY AG Letitia James says ‘We are prepared to fight back’ in ‘dumb and bizarre’ presser with Gov. Hochul after Trump wins presidency

By Haley Brown and Carl Campanile

.....The Democratic governor said she’s prepared to work with Trump, but spent much of her time talking about readying for political and legal war.

“You try to harm New Yorkers or roll back their rights, I will fight you every step of the way,” Hochul told reporters at her Manhattan office.

She spoke of potential spats with Trump over abortion, labor, LGBTQ rights, environmental policy and immigration. 

James, meanwhile, said her office had been “preparing” for a potential second Trump administration.

“I am ready to do everything in my power to ensure our state and nation do not go backwards,” she said in a statement. “Together with Governor Hochul, our partners in state and local government, and my colleague attorneys general from throughout the nation, we will work each and every day to defend Americans, no matter what this new administration throws at us. We are ready to fight back again.”

The attorney general’s presence at the press conference was noteworthy and evidence that New York’s top two Democratic leaders are preparing to be on an adversarial, war-look footing with Trump.

New Hampshire Bulletin: A new campaign finance law is allowing record-breaking spending in NH governor’s race

By Ethan Dewitt

.....In her quest for the New Hampshire governor’s office, Kelly Ayotte is breaking financial records. As of Oct. 30, the Republican nominee and former U.S. senator has raised $21 million into her personal campaign fund since running for the office and spent nearly $19 million of it. 

The amount far surpasses the funds raised by Ayotte’s Democratic opponent, former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig, who brought in $7.3 million into her campaign fund as of that same deadline. And it dwarfs the $1.7 million raised by Gov. Chris Sununu during his entire 2022 re-election effort. 

But the money is unusual for other reasons: A majority of it – 70 percent – comes from a single political action committee. And none of those transactions can be traced to individual donors.

The strategy is the direct result of a 2023 campaign finance law that removes limits on donations to candidates from political action committees. And after recent validation from the Attorney General’s Office, the Ayotte campaign’s application of the law could become common practice in future elections. 

In an Oct. 10 opinion, the office’s Election Law Unit wrote that Ayotte’s practice of accepting millions of dollars from a political action committee supplied by the Republican Governor’s Association is legal, rebuffing a complaint by Democrats.