A $40 million flameout in New Jersey’s race for governor puts scrutiny on teachers union
From POLITICO: The New Jersey Education Association spent more than $40 million backing the bid of its president, Sean Spiller, for governor, only for him to come in 5th in the Democratic primary. Spiller, who was unable to directly fundraise enough for his candidacy to qualify for debates, relied on support from a Super PAC indirectly funded by his union. The expenditure was the largest ever by a special interest group to back a single candidate in a state race. CEO of American Promise Jeff Clements notes that the campaign finance system that enables this level of expenditure “only gets worse until we fix the constitutional problem the court created.”
New House members saw PAC donations jump after getting committee assignments
From OpenSecrets: Analysis by OpenSecrets has found that new members of Congress receive significantly increased donations to their PACs once they receive committee assignments, usually from industries under the jurisdiction of those committees. For example, before he was appointed to the House Financial Services committee, contributions from finance, insurance, and real estate agents to Rep. Sam Liccardo’s (D-CA) PAC made up 13% of the PACs funds. After his appointment, they jumped up to 57%.
Supreme Court takes up major new challenge to campaign finance restrictions
From NBC News: The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case brought by Republican committees and campaigns that would challenge a major piece of campaign finance regulation. Currently, party committees are limited on how much money they can spend in direct coordination with a candidate’s campaign, depending on the voting population in a given race. Once they hit the cap, they can still spend an unlimited amount of money on uncoordinated spending. The Trump administration agrees with the challengers, claiming that the current restrictions violate the First Amendment. Here is our statement about the Court’s decision to hear the case next term.
State’s first-ever audit of campaign finance report leaves many questions unanswered
From Cardinal News: The Virginia Department of Elections ran its first audit of the campaign finance reports of seven randomly selected candidates, the results of which show several holes in the state’s reporting and auditing processes. The agency did not follow up with candidates who failed to provide requested records, including Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins, whom the report found could not document a single contribution over $500. Gaskins’ office stated that they believe their reports are accurate and that they had not received any additional information from the Department on the status of their reports. The Department had also stated a goal of screening candidate reports for prohibited foreign contributions, but failed to address the goal in the final report.
Eric Adams Asked Bill Ackman to Vet Campaign Manager Before Hiring Him
From The New York Times: Eric Adams, the Mayor of New York who’s running for re-election as an independent, is looking to gain favor with billionaires Bill Ackman and Daniel S. Loeb to finance his campaign. Both have made major contributions to Republicans and Democrats in the past. As part of this effort, Adams took the unusual step of allowing them to interview his campaign manager, Eugene Noh, before hiring him. Both billionaires have been outspoken in their opposition to Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor.
