Questions tagged [campaign-finance]
Campaign finance refers to the rules and regulations governing the raising and spending of funds for a candidate running for office. For questions about the funds themselves use [fundraising] instead.
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Why are political donations public?
All political donations over $200 are public in the United States.
Why is this? $200 does not seem like enough to place a political candidate significantly in debt to an individual donor. It seems odd ...
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What came of the Trump campaign's complaint to the FEC that Harris 'stole' (or at least illegally received) Biden's funding?
The Trump campaign complained to the FEC in late July that
Kamala Harris is seeking to perpetrate a USD 91.5 million heist of Joe Biden's leftover campaign cash a brazen money grab that would ...
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Why is Trump's FEC filing case different from Hillary Clinton's?
As I understand it, the charges against Trump are brought by the State of New York regarding a falsification of filing records by a campaign which was determined to have been made to influence (...
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What would happen if a US presidential candidate used campaign cash for government purposes?
Trump raises over $20 million in February with nearly $42 million in cash on hand, far behind Biden and Democrats
US presidential candidates regularly spend millions of dollars every election to win ...
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Is it illegal to pay someone to endorse a political candidate? [duplicate]
If the DNC paid money to Taylor Swift, Usher, or Patrick Mahomes to shout "I'm voting for Biden!" during the Superbowl, would that be illegal/violate any election laws? They're not directly ...
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To what extent if any did the Koch brothers facilitate an "attack on voting rights... that began after 2008"?
In CNN's November 30, 2023 Will Koch’s endorsement be enough for Nikki Haley to beat Trump?, civil rights attorney Maya Wiley responds to a question about financial support linked to the Koch brothers ...
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Why are Lee Mercer and John Anthony Castro the highest-fundraising candidates for the 2024 U.S. Presidential election?
According to the U.S. Federal Election Commission's website, as of July 10, 2023 the two candidates for U.S. President who have raised the most money are Lee Mercer (D), at $192 million, and John ...
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Why would being "almost the end of the second quarter for fundraising" be a reason for US presidential candidates not being "out there quite as much"?
In CNN's June 14, 2023 'He’s scared s***less’: Hear John Kelly’s blunt take on Trump indictment at about 08:23, CNN's Chief National Affairs Correspondent Jeff Zeleny says:
So one of the reasons the ...
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Which western communist parties use crypto for donations? [closed]
Being aware of Russia's political scene, I noticed that some Communist organizations (specifically Anarcho-Communists) use cryptocurrencies for donations.
I noticed that a lot of Western Communist ...
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Do US House of Representatives members really need to "bring in a certain amount of donations, frankly, to get some top positions" on committees?
The following exchange between PBS's Geoff Bennett and Lisa Desjardin caught my attention (somewhat after 07:30) in the January 3, 2022 piece House adjourns until Wednesday after McCarthy fails to win ...
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Is it legal to publicly promise to make a donation in exchange for a politician voting a certain way?
As an example, let's say a new law is currently discussed in US Congress that would boost the production of widgets if passed. Acme corporation makes a lot of widgets and wants the law to succeed. ...
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Does the GOP actually have a formal 'neutrality policy' that this unnamed RNC official describes?
This answer to Why would a former US president's announcement of a reelection bid cut off legal defense funds? in toto:
From the July 28, 2022 Yahoo article, by Cheryl Teh, The RNC has been helping ...
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Can large loans be used by companies to circumvent political contribution laws in the United States?
https://youtu.be/CMLQrqYheiY?t=88
In this video, Poilievre describe that large loans are used for companies to give large donations to politicians, these large loans are never to be paid back and are ...
user28660
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Why would a former US president's announcement of a reelection bid cut off legal defense funds?
At the end of CNN's August 9, 2022 video Analysis: How FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago could help Trump in 2024 (after about 10:00) host Brianna Keilar asks about the former US president potentially ...
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How much "Russian money" have Russian oligarchs injected into the UK's economy and contributed to UK politicians?
The following compares statements by two very disparate British commentators, Christopher Steele and the fictional reporter Johnathan Pie.
Steele
The notes below Sky News' April 1, 2022 Beth Rigby ...
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Politico's "Sinema rakes in Pharma and finance cash..." A salient issue and an exceptional pattern of donations, or just cherry picking of statistics?
Politico's October 15, 2021 Sinema rakes in Pharma and finance cash amid reconciliation negotiations begins
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) raised more campaign money in the last three months than in ...
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When and from where was the PAC first legally defined
The FEC explains the different types of political action committees (PACs) but did Congress legally define what a PAC is? I'm assuming that the FEC didn't legally define what a PAC is since it is a ...
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Will any state or federal laws be broken by a rich individual funding the movement and support of South Dakota National Guard troops?
Politico's Billionaire GOP donor is funding South Dakota National Guard border deployment says:
Willis Johnson doesn’t live in the state but says he backs Gov. Kristi Noem, a potential presidential ...
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Is overturning Citizens United part of the Green Party Platform?
Is over turning Citizen's United v. FEC officially part of the Green Party's platform? Does it include other mentions changing campaign finance laws?
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Why does the Biden campaign have a $32 donation tier?
Going onto the Joe Biden website, it's currently asking for donations for his presidential election campaign and potential legal action. Some of the options seem to be quite random though:
For those ...
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Why are there no campaigning caps in US elections?
As far as I'm aware, America doesn't put a cap on how much money you can spend on campaigning. This is unlike countries such as Britain (where the cap is £30,000 per constituency).
If the lack of a ...
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How are the 2020 US presidential campaigns now like "a land war in Asia"?
Politico's Bloomberg knocks Trump back on his heels in Florida includes:
“It’s forced the Trump campaign to retrench in Florida. You can see it in the spending habits, in television and digital. They’...
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What advantages does a super PAC enjoy compared to other corporations/nonprofits, especially 501(c)(4)s?
Sorry if this has already been addressed:
If I understand correctly, US corporations can make unlimited independent expenditures on US elections after Citizens United v. FEC. Again if I understand ...
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Would the hypothetical Exxon call be illegal?
This BBC article quotes Trump suggesting he could quickly raise large amounts of campaign funds by offering things to CEOs.
President Trump went on to describe a hypothetical conversation: "How ...
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Why are campaign budgets treated as important?
Plenty of research shows that campaign spending makes very little difference. See this article on FiveThirtyEight, for example.
So why does so much news reporting, like this, focus on that topic as ...
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Restarting Presidential campaign after endorsing opponent [duplicate]
Couldn't find answer online, so I'm turning to this community for an answer, Could Senator Sanders, after being taken off of NY's Democratic Primary ballot, legally 'Unsuspend'("Restart") his ...
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Can candidates in federal elections draw a living wage from their campaign finances?
In federal elections in the US or in similar governments, is it possible for candidates to feed and house themselves and their families from campaign donations? Or do they need to live off of personal ...
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What are the limits on how much Bloomberg could donate to the Democratic Presidential Candidate in 2020?
Mike Bloomberg is self funding his campaign and with a personal fortune of $65 billion. His campaign spending could be essentially limitless. With this amount of money he could radically outspend ...
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Where are my small contributions in the FEC filings?
I know that I have made several small contributions over the last year, but only one of those contributions/transactions appears when I look at the FEC individual contributions dataset (found here) ...
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In the US, is there a reason you can contribute to a politician even if you are not a resident that they represent?
To clarify, since I imagine this is somewhat difficult to discern from a 150 character title limit:
Why is it that a resident of Rhode Island may donate to a candidate in Florida in order to bolster ...
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Why is it ethical for Ambassador Sondland to have been given an ambassadorship for campaign contributions?
Ambassador Sondland donated 1 million dollars to Trumps inauguration, and then was appointed to a high profile ambassadorship. He never worked in the government previously, has no credentials, no ...
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Do Campaign Contributions go to the politician?
I've seen it stated frequently that large campaign contributions are used, especially by corporations, to buy the influence of a politician. Many places have gone so far as to say that corporate ...
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How unusual is it for a registered foreign agent to have a lead position in a Super Pac in the United States? Is it legal?
While this question addresses if a foreign national can donate to a pac, what about having an officer role in a super pac while registered as a foreign agent?
Democratic presidential candidate Joe ...
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What are the political or business connections of Parnas and Fruman in the former USSR countries?
From breaking news in the Guardian:
Two associates of Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, have been charged with election finance violations for channeling foreign money into the president’...
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As an electoral candidate, isn't Yang precluded from conducting his "UBI experiment"?
In the US Democratic Party’s presidential primary debate a few days ago, candidate Andrew Yang announced his campaign will conduct a 1-year experiment with Universal Basic Income - by paying USD 1000 ...
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What is the effect of election campaign donations?
Candidates for the presidential election of the US collect donations in relation to their campaigns.
Candidates are sometimes compared based on the total amount of donations they received.
But what ...
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Can foreign national US residents volunteer with US political campaigns?
This question about donating to campaigns as a US resident noncitizen led me to wonder if US resident noncitizens/foreign nationals can volunteer with political campaigns in any capacity (direct voter ...
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Contributing to a candidate as a Foreign National US Resident?
I'm not sure if this is the correct exchange to be posting this question, so apologies if this is not the right place.
I'm a US Resident, currently on a H-1B. I'm not a Green Card holder or a US ...
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How did Super PACs affect the magnitude of election spending by wealthy individuals, and why?
The Citizens United campaign decision in the US helped lay the groundwork for the proliferation of Super PACs, and is widely credited with increasing the spending gap between wealthy donors and the ...
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Ban on all campaign finance?
There is a lot of rhetoric surrounding how politicians in the US obtain money for their campaigns. I am wondering why it is necessary for politicians to have any money for their campaigns, small ...
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What did Bernie Sanders do with all the cash from his 2016 campaign?
I'm just wondering what happened with hundreds of millions Bernie Sanders raised in 2016. Did he give to the DNC?
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Why is Bernie Sanders maximum accepted donation on actblue $5600?
Check here and try to enter a number higher than $5600.
I know this question might be oddly specific, but i have no idea why it would be such an odd number, and not just $5000.
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To what extent is a US political presidential candidate compromised by PAC funding?
Amy Klobuchar having launched her presidential nomination campaign stated that she would not be taking corporate PAC money.
Is that a big irregularity and if so what is the benefit of not taking ...
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Are there any examples of electoral bonds or similar instruments usage in the Western democracies?
After Reading this question I have searched if any Western democracy have used something similar to make political campaign financing more transparent.
From the accepted answer in the aforementioned ...
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Have any third parties used Maine or Arizona's public financing in their campaigns?
I cannot find evidence for a third party using the public financing option for either state. I can see nothing preventing it and assume they have at some point. Specifically I'm referring to the $5 ...
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Allocation of government revenue for campaign spending [closed]
I was thinking about the following and I am interested in other peoples opinions on potential effects. What if the US government where to pass legislation that allocates money for political candidates ...
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Why don't the Democrats make a deal to give Trump his border wall in exchange for campaign finance reform?
I feel like this is a unique opportunity to pass effective campaign finance legislation. Politically I think not giving Trump the wall is the better strategy, which may be why such a deal will not ...
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Would this be considered a campaign contribution in the US?
Trying to understand how things other than direct cash donations can also be considered campaign contributions in the US, I've formulated the following scenario to explain the thing of potential value;...
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Do senators control PACs?
I recently saw a hidden video on Senator Claire McCaskill in which one of her staffers said that "we get a lot of money from Chuck Schumer". The interviewer then asks how this is possible and the ...
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Disclosure and publishing of 'catch and kill' practices favouring a presidential candidate
Catch and kill is the practice by a media outlet to buy the right to a negative story about someone and not publish it so that the story doesn't go public.
Suppose this technique was used by a ...
JJJ♦
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