An Astounding Number of Kari Lake’s Donors Want Their Money Back
From The Intercept:
Kari Lake, former Republican candidate for Senate in Arizona, is still collecting large numbers of small-dollar campaign donations, despite her campaign having ended months ago. Lake is still taking in donations through WinRed, the conservative fundraising platform equivalent to the liberal ActBlue. One in every seven donations to Lake has been subject to an attempted chargeback (a reverse charge by a customer’s bank or credit card to pull back their money, usually a last resort when a refund is unavailable) by the donor. Most of Lake’s donations come from donors who have given repeated donations of the same amount, indicating that they are likely automatic recurring donations. Critics suggest that the high rate of chargebacks may mean that Lake’s campaign is refusing refunds to donors.
Cuomo Loses $622,000 Over Concerns of Improper Super PAC Coordination
From the New York Times:
Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is currently running for Mayor of New York City, was denied over $600,000 in public campaign funds by the New York City Campaign Finance Board. The Board found that he “most likely” coordinated with a Super PAC supporting his run, which is not permitted. The Cuomo campaign put up a plan on its website detailing how it would like an outside spending group to support his campaign, and then a few days later the Fix The City Super PAC began running ads following that plan. This practice, known as redboxing, is common among federal campaigns and Super PACs, but the Campaign Finance Board is opposed to it.
Anonymous donors can cover Hobbs’ campaign legal fees thanks to carve out in campaign finance law
From KJZZ Phoenix:
A loophole in Arizona campaign finance law allows candidates to request money from donors to cover legal fees without having to disclose the donations, or even the existence of the account receiving the donations. Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs has taken advantage of this loophole to set up a special fund to pay the legal fees associated with challenges from Kari Lake, who ran for Governor in 2022 and repeatedly challenged the election after losing. The existence of Hobbs’ legal fund wouldn’t be public at all, if the parent company for Arizona’s largest electric utility hadn’t disclosed that it gave $100,000 to the governor’s legal fund last year. The utility company currently has a bill it supports on the governor’s desk.
Special report: How national donors shaped the 2024 congressional elections
From OpenSecrets:
This report by OpenSecrets shows the degree to which congressional elections have become national affairs. High-profile elections are regularly dominated by out-of-state donations, with House candidates raising just 17.5% of their itemized donations from within their districts, and Senate candidates raising just 27.5% of theirs from within their states. Those are the second-lowest levels on record, beaten only by 2020, a year in which candidates couldn’t hold in-person fundraising events.
