According to reporting by Forbes, through the end of July the Biden — now Harris — campaign committee has raised about $516 million, and the Trump campaign committee has raised about $269 million dollars in total. That’s the most recent data available from Federal Election Commission filings.
That totals about $785 million dollars raised so far. And while that may sound like a lot, in 2020, Joe Biden’s campaign, along with affiliated committees, raised approximately $1.69 billion, and Donald Trump’s campaign, and affiliated committees, raised approximately $1.96 billion. That’s about $3.7 billion in all.
The “affiliated committees” refer to Super PACs and 501(c)(4)s, which are two fundraising channels that were not available prior to the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court Decision referred to as Citizens United.
That decision fundamentally changed U.S. campaign finance laws by saying that corporations, unions, and other organizations have a First Amendment right to spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns, as long as the spending is independent and not directly coordinated with candidates or political parties. It allowed for the creation of Super PACs and 501(c)(4)s which can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to support or oppose candidates.
We get an overview of the recent history of campaign finance rules and spending patterns, and learn what campaigns spend all of that money on.
Guest:
Ian Vandewalker, Senior Counsel and Manager for the Brennan Center for Justice’s Elections & Government Program.
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