Citizens United provision allowing foreign campaign contributions draws Democratic bill
From CNBC: A new bill, introduced by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), would bar U.S. companies from contributing to campaigns and ballot initiatives if they exceed certain thresholds for foreign ownership. Entities based outside of the US which are 50% owned by foreign nationals would be prohibited from making contributions, as would US-based entities that are 1% or more owned by a single foreign national.
Anthropic CEO gives $1 million to super PAC amid battle of AI big-money groups
From POLITICO: Dario Amodei, the CEO of AI company Anthropic (which produces the AI Claude), gave $1 million to Public First, a Super PAC that supports regulation on AI. This is another step in the public battle between Public First and Leading the Future, a Super PAC opposed to significant AI regulation that is supported by executives at OpenAI. Leading the Future has raised $75 million, while Public First Action, the nonprofit linked to the Public First PAC, claims that it has raised $80 million.
GOP’s congressional super PACs boast massive war chests
From OpenSecrets: The two major Republican Super PACs, the Senate Leadership Fund (which supports Republican candidates for US Senate), and the Congressional Leadership Fund (its partner for US House candidates), reported a massive fundraising lead over Democrats in the latest FEC filings. The Senate Leadership Fund reported more than $238 million in cash on hand, and the Congressional Leadership Fund reported more than $141 million. Both totals are more than double the cash on hand reported by their Democratic counterparts (the Senate Majority PAC and House Majority PAC, respectively).
Democratic Senate Candidates Trounce Republicans in Fund-Raising
From The New York Times: On the other hand, however, Democratic candidates are enjoying a significant fundraising advantage over their Republican opponents. Aside from Iowa, Democratic candidates for Senate in key states have raised more in the first half of the year than Republicans. James Talarico in Texas and Jon Ossoff in Georgia have raised a staggering $54.5 million and $33.4 million, respectively, while neither of their opponents has raised more than $4 million. In Iowa, the Democratic nominee James Turek is behind by less than $1 million, having raised $4.6 million compared to Republican nominee Ashley Hinson’s $5.3 million.