Leading up to this week's election, Wisconsin voters have been inundated with campaign ads for the high-profile state Supreme Court race, and watchdogs say the massive spending should lead to more calls for reform.
The race to fill a seat on Wisconsin's high court has shattered campaign spending records, with nearly $40 million in contributions. The outcome of the contest will affect the court's ideological balance, making it attractive to donors.
Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause Wisconsin, said the loosening of state campaign finance laws in recent years is a big factor here.
"The campaign finance laws in Wisconsin have been totally decimated in the last 10 years," Heck contended. "We now allow in this state coordination between outside special interest groups and candidate committees, including for the Supreme Court."
The court has had a conservative majority for some time now, sparking backlash about such matters as gerrymandered political maps favoring Republicans. Even with those concerns in mind, Heck argued all voters lose when judicial campaigns are allowed so much access to financial support. He noted the candidates now have to run like those seeking other offices, shedding their impartiality in the process.
Republicans led the charge to overhaul the state's campaign finance laws, and Democrats have made unsuccessful attempts to bring back restrictions. Those who supported the changes argued they were necessary because these activities were already happening. But Heck countered it is grown out of hand, especially for judicial races.
"And I think that's a tragedy, because that's not what Wisconsin used to be like," Heck recounted. "We used to have a reputation for having one of the most impartial, least corruptible court systems in the country."
He warned justices are not required to recuse themselves from a case if there is a conflict of interest stemming from a campaign donation.
Common Cause is not endorsing any candidate, but Heck acknowledged a flip to a left-leaning majority could lead to decisions on election policy his group supports, included overturning a ban on drop boxes for ballots.
Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.
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By Anna Massoglia and Jimmy Cloutier for OpenSecrets.
Broadcast version by Nadia Ramlagan for Kentucky News Connection reporting for the OpenSecrets-Public News Service Collaboration
Kentucky’s 2023 gubernatorial race set a nominal state fundraising record, with candidates in the primary and general election raising more than $44.6 million, according to an OpenSecrets analysis of campaign finance reports.
Independent political groups spent an additional $45.3 million, mostly on negative ads targeting incumbent Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear or his Republican rival, Attorney General Daniel Cameron. The latest campaign finance filings cover political spending through Oct. 23.
When adjusted for inflation, the gubernatorial race ranks among the most expensive in Kentucky history — and is the latest high-profile state election to be awash in cash. Virginia state legislative races this year also broke state fundraising records, OpenSecrets found.
Beshear, who won reelection in the Republican-leaning state, raised more than $23.1 million — three times as much as Cameron, reports show.
Cameron, who became Kentucky’s first major-party Black nominee for governor following an expensive primary contest, raised about $6.5 million.
While the race tightened in the final weeks of the campaign, Beshear won a second term on Nov. 7 by a comfortable margin, defeating Cameron with 53% of the vote, according to the Kentucky Secretary of State.
Since this will be Beshear’s second consecutive term as governor, he must wait at least one election cycle before running for governor again. Kentucky is one of 26 states that allow governors to serve an unlimited number of four-year terms.
Beshear’s top funder was the Kentucky Democratic Party.
Both the Kentucky Democratic Party and Beshear are now under civil investigation by state campaign finance regulators for allegedly accepting political contributions over the legal limit from Randall Weddle, the mayor of London, Ky.
In June, after reporting by the Kentucky Lantern, Beshear announced that his campaign and the Kentucky Democratic party inadvertently took $202,000 in “excess” contributions from Weddle but noted the money was refunded. A Kentucky Registry of Election Finance notice sent Monday confirms an investigation is ongoing.
Beshear also received substantial support from labor unions, which accounted for most contributions to his campaign from political action committees.
Like Beshear, Cameron’s biggest donors were also party committees, with the Kentucky Republican Party topping the list.
While Beshear topped campaign fundraising, Cameron benefited from more outside group spending on independent expenditures.
The attorney general benefitted from over $25 million in spending by outside groups while Beshear benefitted from about $20 million. The bulk of that paid for negative advertising with $19.4 million on ads attacking Cameron and $18.2 million on anti-Beshear ads.
The top two spenders were Defending Bluegrass Values and Kentucky Values — political action committees affiliated with the Democratic and Republican governors associations, respectively.
Defending Bluegrass Values reported more than $4 million in contributions in campaign finance filings this year and made $13.7 million in ad buys supporting Beshear’s reelection campaign in the first week of September — more than every other PAC spending on the race combined, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. It spent nearly $16.8 million in total on the election, according to the latest campaign finance reports.
Kentucky Values reported spending more than $12.4 million, mostly on independent expenditures opposing Beshear’s reelection.
A PAC called Bluegrass Freedom Action also ranked among the top outside spenders, pouring more than $4.9 million into the primary and general elections to boost Cameron’s campaign. Most of that money traces back to The Concord Fund, a conservative “dark money” group well known for financing efforts to reshape the federal judiciary.
As a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization, The Concord Fund — formerly known as the Judicial Crisis Network — is not required to disclose its donors. It has steered $3.3 million to Bluegrass Freedom Action, as of Oct. 23.
Another top spender boosting Cameron was the School Freedom Fund, an out-of-state super PAC allied with the conservative Club For Growth. The super PAC has yet to report any new donors this year, but in 2022 it was bankrolled by billionaire Jeff Yass, the founder of Susquehanna International Group, according to federal campaign finance reports.
School Freedom Fund spent around $3 million opposing Beshear, records show. Multiple ads from the super PAC about Beshear’s decision to release some prisoners early during the COVID-19 pandemic were debunked.
Club for Growth, a pro-free market conservative group active across the country, spent another $2.2 million boosting Cameron in the gubernatorial race.
Anna Massoglia and Jimmy Cloutier wrote this story for OpenSecrets.
Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.
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By Harshawn Ratanpal for OpenSecrets.
Broadcast version by Nadia Ramlagan for Ohio News Connection reporting for the OpenSecrets-Public News Service Collaboration
With $11.8 million in the bank, incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) has far outraised his Republican challengers, who continue to pour their own money into the tightly contested 2024 U.S. Senate race.
But Brown’s war chest may not win him reelection. A poll from Emerson College last week predicts the three-term Democrat losing in a matchup against state senator Matt Dolan (R-Ohio) by two points and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) by one point. The poll, which has a 4.5% margin of error, has Brown defeating Republican businessman Bernie Moreno by one point.
Republicans could stand to flip the U.S. Senate if Brown loses reelection.
Once a bellwether, Ohio has taken a recent rightward shift, electing Sen. J.D. Vance (R), who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, to the Senate in 2022. Brown is the only Ohio Democrat to be elected to a non-judicial statewide office since 2008.
Still, Brown has retained his ability to fundraise and attract grassroots support. The incumbent Democrat raised $5.8 million from July to September, a 15% increase from the previous quarter. At least 31% of his funds came from donors who contributed $200 or less, an OpenSecrets analysis of third-quarter Federal Election Commission filings found.
LaRose came closest to matching Brown’s grassroots support, with 21% of his funds coming from small donors. Less than half of one percent of Dolan’s funds came from small donors and small donors accounted for 3% of Moreno’s third-quarter fundraising haul.
Moreno and Dolan each loaned $3 million to their campaigns in the last three months. Dolan raised an additional $1.1 million and Moreno raised another $1.2 million. LaRose, who began his campaign in July, loaned his campaign $250,000 and raised another $792,000.
Brown also garnered support from 97 political action committees that contributed a total $256,000 – an average of $2,600 each. Top supporters included leadership PACs affiliated with Reps. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), which each gave $10,000.
Brown, who joined striking auto workers on picket lines last month, received at least $43,500 from a dozen unions or PACs affiliated with unions between July and September.
Duty and Country, a super PAC that has been federally inactive since 2020, spent $840,000 in September on advertising for Brown. The group reported having just $15,000 at the end of June, and is not required to file donor information until the end of this year.
In the 2020 election cycle, the group’s funds came from a nonprofit group called Duty and Honor, an affiliate of Senate Democrats’ Senate Majority PAC and Majority Forward, according to tax records.
Senate Majority PAC supports Democratic candidates in Senate races and is consistently one of the highest-spending super PACs. It often supports affiliate groups dedicated to specific races, like Georgia Honor and The Georgia Way, which both supported Democratic candidates in Georgia Senate races.
Brown’s Republican challengers in the Ohio Senate race also received PAC support.
PACs gave $19,000 to Moreno. Most of it came from fellow Republicans, including the leadership PACs of Vance and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Flo.), who each gave $5,000, as well as local candidates and parties.
Dolan received $23,800 from PACs between July and September. About 20% of that came from committees affiliated with party members. Unlike the PACs supporting Moreno, his third-quarter supporters were limited to PACs affiliated with state and local politicians, including former fellow Ohio state Sens. Jay Hottinger and Bill Beagle, as well as a handful of municipal politicians. The rest came from PACs affiliated with companies headquartered in Ohio.
LaRose received $9,000 from PACs, including $7,500 from PACs affiliated with trade associations, $1,000 from a PAC affiliated with a real estate investment trust and $500 from the campaign committee of Ohio state Rep. Thomas Patton (R).
Brown also spent more than his three challengers combined. He spent $3.2 million from July to September, with $1.2 million on digital acquisition, $540,000 on direct mail and another $27,500 on digital advertising.
Dolan spent $1.3 million, with most of it going to television advertising. Moreno spent $700,000, including $150,000 on mailing and $58,000 on digital advertising and marketing. LaRose spent just $172,000 and reported spending $16,900 on mailing.
No prominent Democrat has challenged Brown. Primary elections are set for March 19, 2024 and the general election is scheduled for Nov. 5.
Harshawn Ratanpal wrote this article for OpenSecrets.
Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.
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By Anna Massoglia for OpenSecrets.
Broadcast version by Nadia Ramlagan for Kentucky News Connection reporting for the OpenSecrets-Public News Service Collaboration
The Kentucky governor's race has been nothing short of a financial juggernaut, with gubernatorial candidates collectively raking in more than $36.8 million in contributions, a new OpenSecrets analysis found.
The booming fundraising puts the race on track to set a new record in the state. The most ever collectively raised by gubernatorial candidates in a prior election year was $37.1 million in 2007.
As money continues to pour into this year's gubernatorial race, incumbent Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear has a hefty cash advantage after raising over three times as much as his Republican rival in the general election, Attorney General Daniel Cameron.
Beshear is leading the pack in fundraising with an eye-popping $17.3 million raised so far this election. About $10 million of that was raised for the general election, new campaign finance disclosures filed Sept. 12 show. The incumbent governor's campaign has already spent more than $10.7 million on the general, with $4.2 million cash on hand at the start of September.
After winning the Republican primary in May to become the first major-party Black nominee for governor in Kentucky's history, Cameron raised about $2.8 million for the general election. His campaign's total fundraising this cycle has topped $4.6 million, according to new campaign finance filings submitted Sept. 12.
During the general election period, Cameron has spent about $1.4 million and had about $1.4 million cash on hand at the start of September.
While incumbents and top fundraisers are often at an advantage in elections, Cameron has won races where he was outraised before.
The top fundraiser in the 12-candidate Republican primary field was Kelly Craft, who served as United Nations ambassador in former President Donald Trump's administration, though her campaign was heavily self-funded. Craft's campaign brought in over $12.3 million ahead of the May primary including the candidate's self-financing - over $10 million more than Cameron raised during the primary. But Trump ultimately endorsed the Kentucky attorney general, and he went on to win the nomination.
Both Beshear and Cameron took money from political action committees. But Beshear has benefitted from nearly twice as much PAC money as Cameron, with the candidates having taken $134,000 and $69,900 respectively
The bulk of Beshear's political action committee contributions during the 60-day pre-general election period have come from PACs affiliated with unions. He has also taken from several corporate PACs affiliated with companies in the healthcare industry including $2,100 from Eli Lilly And Company's PAC, $1,000 from Genesis Healthcare Corp PAC, $2,000 from Molina Healthcare's PAC, $2000 from Centene Corp. PAC and $2,000 from Elevance Health PAC.
Beshear also took $2,000 from a PAC affiliated with WalMart, $2,100 from Duke Energy's PAC, $2,100 from Deloitte PAC, $2,100 from CSX's PAC, $2,000 from Dell Technologies' PAC, $2,100 from Atmos Energy Corp's PAC and $2,100 from a PAC affiliated with Nucor, a steel company.
Kentucky's identity is intrinsically linked to bourbon, and the alcoholic beverage industry wields influence far beyond barrels of booze. Beshear's campaign tapped into this, securing financial support from key industry players including $2,100 - the state's campaign contribution cap - from Beam Suntory's PAC, $2,100 from the Kentucky Distillers' Association's PAC and $2,100.00 from Diago North America's PAC.
Cameron also enjoyed his share of corporate PAC support. His campaign's top corporate contributors include PACs affiliated with Koch Industries, Home Depot and Lifepoint Health, which each gave $2,100 to his campaign - the legal limit in the state.
Cameron also received $2,100 from Save America, Trump's PAC.
Some PACs played both sides. For example, the Kentucky Land Title Association gave $2,100 to each candidate.
Political ads flood Kentucky governor's race
Political advertising has flooded the airwaves in Kentucky as a part of the hotly-contested gubernatorial race with abortion emerging as a key issue.
On Sept. 20, Beshear's campaign released an attack ad targeting Cameron on abortion rights.
"Anyone who believes there should be no exceptions for rape and incest could never understand what it's like to stand in my shoes," the woman in the ad says, sharing a story about being sexually assaulted by her stepfather.
Earlier this month, Beshear launched another ad campaign describing Cameron's previously stated opposition to exceptions for rape as "extreme" and "dangerous."
While Cameron previously expressed opposition to exceptions to abortion bans, he indicated on Sept. 18 that he would sign legislation that allows exceptions for rape and incest. Cameron also announced that he supports birth control.
Planned Parenthood Action Kentucky, a PAC largely funded by the political arm of Planned Parenthood's national organization, also launched a six-figure ad campaign attacking Cameron over his anti-abortion rights stance.
While Beshear has an edge over Cameron when it comes to campaign fundraising and the support of several PACs, outside groups have poured big money into the race supporting both candidates.
School Freedom Fund, a super PAC allied with the conservative Club For Growth, is one group that has been heavily involved in opposing Beshear with spending reaching around $3 million.
The super PAC recently launched an ad claiming that Beshear's decision to release some prisoners early during the COVID-19 pandemic allowed a man convicted of sodomizing a child to "roam free" - a claim that has been debunked. Multiple ads bankolled by School Freedom Fund have raise questions and been debunked.
School Freedom Fund was almost entirely bankrolled by Jeff Yass, the billionaire founder of Susquehanna International Group, during the 2022 cycle. The School Freedom Fund super PAC is also affiliated with Club For Growth, a pro-free market group co-founded by billionaire GOP megadonor Harlan Crow - whose close relationship with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has received recent scrutiny - and largely funded by Yass and Republican-aligned billionaire shipping magnate Richard Uihlein.
Bluegrass Freedom Action, another PAC supporting Cameron's run, spent more than $4.4 million to help Cameron in the Republican primary and has continued to spend during the general election - racking up more than $1.43 million in ad buys by the first week of September, according to Lexington Herald-Leader reporting using numbers from ad tracking firm Medium Buying.
The largest contributor to the pro-Cameron PAC has been the Concord Fund, a "dark money" group previously named Judicial Crisis Network that does not disclose its donors. Concord Fund is part of a shape-shifting network of secretly-funded conservative nonprofits working to reshape the federal judiciary. It is connected to Leonard Leo, a powerful leader in the conservative legal movement who helped shape Trump's unprecedented effort to stack the federal judiciary with conservative judges.
Defending Bluegrass Values, a PAC tied to the Democratic Governors Association, has also raised and spent big money on the Kentucky gubernatorial race. The PAC has reported more than $4 million in contributions in campaign finance filings and has made $13.7 million in ad buys supporting Beshear's reelection campaign as of the first week of September - more than every other PAC spending on the race combined, according to Lexington Herald-Leader reporting.
Update: As of October 30, 2023, Kentucky's gubernatorial candidates have now raised in more than $44 million dollars in contributions, according to a new analysis by OpenSecrets.
Incumbent Democratic Governor Andy Beshear has now raised more than $23.1 million, and over $15 million of that is for the general election.
Republican candidate Daniel Cameron has now raised about $4.7 million for the general election. His campaign's total fundraising this cycle has topped $6.5 million, according to campaign finance filings.
Anna Massoglia wrote this story for OpenSecrets.
Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.
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