Judges hint Maine foreign election spending law chills speech

From Bloomberg Law:
Last year, Maine voters passed a ballot measure, with 86% approval, that would bar foreign governments and companies in which they have an ownership stake from spending on state elections. Now, multiple foreign-owned companies are suing to block the law. In a recent hearing in the First Circuit Court of Appeals, the judges assigned to the case seemed sympathetic to the plaintiffs’ argument that Maine’s campaign finance regulation is a violation of free speech. Last year when we raised the alarm about this litigation, we noted that the For Our Freedom Amendment would provide a much stronger constitutional framework for dealing with foreign influence in American elections, and provide an answer to judicial doctrines that equate spending with speech. 

Inside the secretive $700 million ad-testing factory for Kamala Harris

From the New York Times:
Future Forward, the largest Super PAC in the country, is outspending the campaigns of former President Trump and Vice President Harris combined. The PAC, which is supporting VP Harris’ bid, is burning through nearly $700 million mostly in secret. The group has the funding to  commission hundreds of ads and attempt to analyze which ads will be most effective, using detailed polling and statistics. Critics of the group within the Democratic Party are concerned about the concentration of so much wealth and influence in a single organization, often to the detriment of funding other aspects of the campaign like get-out-the-vote efforts. 

Republicans rewrote Wisconsin’s fundraising laws. Democrats have used them to their advantage

From Wisconsin Public Radio:
In 2015, Wisconsin Republicans overhauled the state’s campaign finance laws, creating a new system that could allow for unlimited campaign donations to political parties. State Democrats heavily criticized the move at the time, as they believed it would disproportionately benefit Republicans. Now, almost 10 years later, the WI Democratic Party is enjoying a massive fundraising lead over its Republican counterpart, which it uses to make significant contributions to candidates in key races. For example, the WI Democratic Party gave nearly $10 million to now-Justice Janet Protasiewicz in her campaign for State Supreme Court, a contentious race that gave liberal justices control of the Court. 

Senate Republicans to save millions of dollars on ads — thanks to the FEC

From POLITICO:
Senate Republicans have found a campaign finance loophole that will allow them to pay significantly lower rates on campaign ads. Ads that are categorized as fundraising ads can be paid for by party committees, and can be bought for lower rates than ads placed by a candidate. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has begun placing ads that focus on a specific candidate or race, but feature a brief line at the end asking for donations, making it functionally a fundraising ad. The FEC, when asked to rule on whether this is legal, deadlocked on a 3-3 vote. In response, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said that it would begin using the same tactic in its advertising strategy.

Senate hopefuls Ted Cruz and Colin Allred receive millions from donors outside Texas

From ABC 13:
Both Ted Cruz and his challenger Colin Allred, in their tight election for Senate in Texas, have received millions of dollars in donations from outside of the state. Allred, a Democrat, has received more than $5.2 million from outside the state between January and June 2024, nearly half of the $11.2 million he reported receiving, according to analysis of FEC data by ABC 13 News. Ted Cruz received more than $4.2 million, out of $9.5 million total, from outside Texas in the same time period. Within Texas, Allred received the most donations from a Houston ZIP code, while Cruz received the most from a Dallas ZIP code.

Pro-Trump dark money network tied to Elon Musk behind fake pro-Harris campaign scheme

From OpenSecrets:
A dark money group called Building America’s Future is purporting to promote “Progress 2028,” a liberal agenda in the style of the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025. In reality, Building America’s Future is a conservative-linked group that has received more than $100 million from Elon Musk, a vocal supporter of former President Trump. Progress 2028 has begun placing ads that appear to be pro-Harris, but spread misleading or false information about her policy positions on controversial issues. Building America’s Future also funded Citizens For Sanity, a group that spent over $90 million on divisive ads intended to depress voting in minority communities.

Campaign Finance Flashback:

Massachusetts Miracle

From The New York Times, August 1996:
A bit of a different story this week: a flashback to the 1996 Massachusetts Senate race between John Kerry and Bill Weld. Despite their race being highly contentious, and ripe for massive amounts of fundraising and campaign spending, the two candidates came together and voluntarily agreed to cap their own spending. They each agreed to limit their total spending to $6.9 million each, of which only $5 million could be spent on ads, and agreed to ban “soft money” spending by outside groups. A few years after the election, the candidates wrote an op-ed together to discuss their agreement and how successful they felt they had been at blocking excessive spending in their race in favor of running issue-oriented campaigns.