Your weekly money in politics newsletter.

February 9, 2023

“Midterm spending spree”: Cost of 2022 federal elections tops $8.9 billion, a new midterm record

The 2022 federal midterm elections cost more than $8.9 billion, blowing past the inflation-adjusted $7.1 billion spent on the 2018 midterm elections.

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ByteDance ramps up lobbying as concerns over TikTok’s China ties and data security mount

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, spent over $13.4 million on lobbyists since it first began lobbying in 2019.

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After U.S. scrutiny of WeChat, Chinese conglomerate Tencent Holdings spent millions on federal lobbying

Chinese conglomerate Tencent has spent $6.3 million lobbying the federal government since 2020, the year former President Donald Trump tried to ban its WeChat app.

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OpenSecrets in the News

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

Major Republican Donor Network Seeks Alternative to Trump (Voice of America)

“Americans for Prosperity has been one of, if not the most, influential money groups on the conservative side for the last decade and a half,” Sarah Bryner, director of research and strategy at OpenSecrets, told VOA.

FTX has chased politicians like Nancy Pelosi to return donations given before the crypto giant's collapse. They now have a deadline of February 28 to pay. (Insider)

After Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX's Bahamas company, Ryan Salame, donated $23 million – making him the 15th top donor in the US, per OpenSecrets.

Biden focuses on the middle as Republicans battle for their base (NBC News)

$8.9 billion: That’s how much money was spent on the 2022 midterms, a record amount of money spent on midterm elections, according to an OpenSecrets analysis of federal campaign finance disclosures.