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September 24, 2020
This week in money-in-politics

Outside spending in 2020 election surpasses $1 billion, on track to break records
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Outside spending in federal races has already surpassed $1 billion with over a month to go before Election Day, putting the 2020 election on track to see far more outside spending than previous election cycles.

That’s according to OpenSecrets’ outside spending tracker, which follows attempts by super PACs, political parties and “dark money” nonprofits, among other outside groups, to influence elections.

Democratic enthusiasm to unseat President Donald Trump and Republican senators — and major GOP donors’ efforts to counter Democrats’ record-breaking fundraising totals — have driven outside spending totals to new highs.
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** ‘Dark money’ groups gear up for Supreme Court battle as 2020 election nears
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“Dark money” groups are projected to spend tens of millions of dollars on the battle over Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat on the Supreme Court, raising the stakes — and likely the cost — of an election cycle that is already seeing record-breaking cash flow. Even before President Donald Trump’s announcement that he will appoint a woman to fill the open Supreme Court seat, multiple outside groups weighed in on the projected nomination in the days following Justice Ginsburg’s death.
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** Top presidential super PACs boosted by ‘dark money’ donations

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“Dark money” groups have spent more and become more opaque this election cycle, pushing money to be spent on the election through closely tied super PACs. These nonprofits, which do not disclose their donors, made some of the largest contributions to the top pro-Donald Trump super PAC America First Action and the top pro-Joe Biden hybrid PAC Priorities USA Action in August. Although these dark money groups keep their donors secret, a few known individuals also donated generously to these top PACs.
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** As Senate races ramp up, so does outside spending by top super PACs
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Two super PAC spending titans, the Democratic Senate Majority PAC and GOP Senate Leadership Fund, ended August with $85 million and $126 million cash on hand, respectively, according to Sunday’s Federal Election Commission filings. Those numbers are key because as both parties enter the home stretch of election season, a Democratic retaking of the Senate in November is seen by many as a solid possibility. FiveThirtyEight deemed Democrats “slight favorites” to take back the Senate.
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Biden outraised Trump 3-1 in August, erasing Trump’s cash advantage

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In a matter of months, Democratic nominee Joe Biden erased President Donald Trump’s once-massive financial advantage that he’d been building up since the early days of his presidency. Some Democratic strategists called Trump’s mountain of campaign cash “insurmountable.”

But record-smashing fundraising by the Biden campaign — and free spending from the Trump camp — helped Democrats catch up and actually surpass the Republican reelection effort.

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OpenSecrets in the News

See our media citations from outlets around the nation this week:

* ** Facebook allowed hundreds of misleading super PAC ads, activist group finds (CNN) ([link removed])
Facebook has allowed political advertisers to target hundreds of misleading ads about Joe Biden and the US Postal Service to swing-state voters in recent weeks, in an apparent failure to enforce its own platform rules less than two months before Election Day.

* ** Ernst, Greenfield stress their rural Iowa roots in a tight battle for Senate seat (Omaha World-Herald) ([link removed])
With control of the Senate at stake, the national parties and independent groups have already spent more than $50 million on the Iowa Senate race.

* ** Conservative Dark Money Group Plans to Spend More Than $2 Million to Boost Trump’s Supreme Court Pick (Mother Jones) ([link removed])
The Judicial Crisis Network, the conservative dark money group that has spent millions to support or oppose judicial nominees, announced that it will spend at least $2.2 million in ad buys to boost whoever Donald Trump selects to fill the vacant Supreme Court seat.

** The Associated Press ([link removed])

** CNBC ([link removed])

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** The Atlantic ([link removed])

** The Post and Courier ([link removed])

** South Florida Sun-Sentinel ([link removed])

** Virginia Mercury ([link removed])

** The Lexington Herald-Leader ([link removed])

** Tehachapi News ([link removed])

** NPR Binghamton ([link removed])

** Middle East Eye ([link removed])

** BBC Mundo ([link removed])



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4 star rating for 8 consecutive years
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