By Jonathan D. Salant

When then-Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) sought a seventh term in Congress last fall, Google Inc.’s political action committee contributed $2,000 to his re-election effort. When Cartwright lost, Google sent a $2,000 check to the candidate who defeated him, Republican Rob Bresnahan.

The AT&T Inc. PAC gave $6,000 to then-Sen. Sherrod Brown’s re-election campaign. But once the Ohio Democrat lost, the telecommunications company’s PAC donated $5,000 to Republican Bernie Moreno, who won the seat.

And after Merck & Co.’s PAC contributed the maximum $10,000 to Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), it gave $5,000 to the Republican who ousted him, Dave McCormick, five weeks after Election Day.

Of the three Senate and 11 House candidates who ousted incumbents in 2024, nine received donations after Election Day from corporate, union and trade association PACs that had supported their opponents during the campaign, according to a review of OpenSecrets data and Federal Election Commission filings.

It’s like waiting until the end of a horse race and betting on the winner, knowing you can’t lose. 

The early donations allow companies, unions and trade groups with issues before Congress to get a head start building relationships with new lawmakers even before they are sworn into office in January.  

And the newly minted lawmakers — traditionally the most vulnerable of incumbents — get a head start building up their war chests for their first re-election campaigns even before they know who their opponents will be.

Google, AT&T and Merck did not respond to requests for comment. 

Some trade associations, including the National Association of Realtors, American Hospital Association and American Hotel and Lodging Association, contributed to several newcomers after their favored candidates lost re-election.

“RPAC’s mission is to support candidates who understand and champion real estate issues,” said Jonathan Waclawski, vice president for political advocacy at the National Association of Realtors. “When an incumbent we support does not win re-election, we prioritize building relationships with the newly elected member to ensure they understand NAR’s priorities. Our goal is to work with all policymakers, regardless of party, to advocate for policies that benefit homeowners, communities and the real estate industry.”

Hospital association spokesman Colin Milligan declined comment. The hotel trade group did not respond to a request for comment.

The Transport Workers Union PAC backed two incumbent Republican House members from New York in the last election, Marc Molinaro ($10,000) and Anthony D’Esposito ($8,000). After both were defeated, the union’s PAC gave $2,500 apiece to the Democrats who defeated them, Josh Riley and Laura Gillen.

“We’re not switching sides at all, we’re establishing relationships with elected officials to advance transport workers,” said John Samuelsen, international president of the Transport Workers Union. “My job is to advance the interests of workers.”

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, recently nominated Molinaro to lead the Federal Transit Administration, which has jurisdiction over the transit systems that Samuelsen’s members work for. The union supported Molinaro when the nomination was announced.

“His experience will be essential for navigating transit issues nationwide,” Samuelsen said. “He has demonstrated a willingness to work with everyone — including trade unions — and he understands the challenges and issues the FTA will face.”

By Indy Scholtens

President Donald Trump announced the nomination of Kash Patel as director of the FBI on Nov. 30, 2024, and the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced his candidacy Feb. 12, on a party-line vote. Patel has previously criticized the FBI and discussed taking punitive action against people who have opposed Trump. 

The full Senate will consider his nomination in the coming weeks. Patel would replace former FBI Director Chris Wray, who was appointed during the first Trump administration and had three years remaining on his term but resigned after Trump tapped Patel. 

Who is he? 

Patel, 44, began his career as a public defender in Florida. He served as a national security prosecutor at the Department of Justice during the Obama administration and as a counterterrorism advisor in the Trump White House and chief of staff to the secretary of defense. Between executive branch jobs, he was senior counsel for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where he worked on investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections. 

Patel left government after Trump’s first term, but remained tied to Trump as a member of the board of Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social. 

Venting at Democrats and Fearing Trump, Liberal Donors Pull Back Cash (The New York Times)

FEC Considers Streamlined Process for Hiding Donor Information (Sludge)

California voters may decide if cities can fund local campaigns with public money (The Orange County Register)

Former U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo violated campaign finance law, FEC says. He’ll have to pay (Biloxi Sun Herald)

Democrats Swear They’ll Fight Elon Musk. But What About the Cash They Took From SpaceX? (The Intercept)

Overall, Democrats received at least $567,000 from the SpaceX PAC, according to data compiled by OpenSecrets. Republicans netted $866,000 in the same period.

Federal lobbying hit record $4.4 billion in 2024 (The Washington Examiner)

The cash blitz in 2024 was a $150 million surge over levels in 2023 and beats federal lobbying spending by $1.2 billion over roughly the last decade, according to an analysis by OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan watchdog group. Taken together, lobbying spending has totaled almost $37 million since 2015, federal disclosures show. 

Major corporate law firms join legal battle over Trump policies (Reuters)

Law firm political action committees gave about $3.7 million to Democratic candidates and about $4.7 million to Republicans in the 2023-2024 U.S. election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission data compiled by non-profit Open Secrets. 

15 Years After Citizens United, Seattle Can Show the Way Forward (The Fulcrum)

According to recent data from OpenSecrets, the numbers are striking. In 2008, outside spending in U.S. elections totaled $574 million. By 2012, that number had more than doubled to nearly $1.3 billion, and by 2024, outside spending exceeded $4.5 billion, much of it spent by super PACs and outside groups. In 2008, the top 100 individual donors contributed just $80.9 million, a small fraction (1.5%) of the overall $5.3 billion spent on federal elections. By 2024, that share had ballooned, with the top 10 donors alone contributing at least $42.3 million each—led by Elon Musk’s record-breaking $280 million.