Just halfway through 2021, fundraising efforts for the 2022 congressional elections are already in full swing. All House and Senate candidates filed new campaign finance reports last week detailing their fundraising and expenditures between April 1 and June 30, 2021. Here are some key numbers to know, based on an Issue One review of these new filings. $1.2 million The
Read MoreIssue One and the Campaign Legal Center today sent a letter to FEC Commissioner Sean Cooksey urging him to work with his fellow FEC commissioners to begin a rulemaking to formally clarify that leadership PAC funds cannot be used by members of Congress for their personal use. The letter comes in the wake of Cooksey incorrectly stating that the current
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Just months after the 2020 elections, members of Congress have already started to raise large sums for their 2022 reelection efforts. All House and Senate candidates filed new campaign finance reports last week that detailed their fundraising and expenditures between January 1 and March 31, 2021. Here are some key numbers to know, based on an Issue One review of
Read MoreWith her swearing in today, Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA) became the newest member of Congress, filling the vacancy left after the death of her husband, Luke Letlow, who won the election in Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District last fall. Letlow also becomes the latest member of Congress to operate a leadership PAC — a political committee separate from a lawmaker’s official
Read MoreA campaign finance report filed on Sunday night shows that Save America PAC, a leadership PAC formed by President Donald Trump on Nov. 9 that has few restrictions on how it spends the money it raises, collected a jaw-dropping $31.5 million from donors between its creation and the end of 2020. That’s the equivalent of roughly $600,000 every day of
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Recently filed campaign finance reports help paint a full picture of exactly how much money House and Senate candidates raised and spent during the 2020 election cycle. The bottom line: Lawmakers — especially those in the most competitive races — are under intense pressure to raise money, each and every day. Here are some key numbers to know, based on
Read MoreStaggering sums of money were injected into the 2020 presidential race. Here are some of the most critical numbers to know about the money spent by the presidential candidates, and their allies, according to an Issue One analysis of campaign finance reports. $4.9 billion: The total amount of money that was spent by all candidates and outside groups during the
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“That sounds like a loophole.” Five words from former California Congressman Henry Waxman (D) summarizes episode three of Issue One’s podcast “Swamp Stories” about secret slush funds in Congress (also known as leadership PACs). And Waxman should know: He originally helped create leadership PACs back in 1978, not to allow for lavish living as they are used today, but to
Read MoreMore than half of all freshman House members have formed leadership PACs — political committees that are frequently criticized as slush funds — according to an Issue One review of federal campaign finance filings. “It takes shockingly little time for politicians to adopt the ways of Washington,” said Issue One CEO Nick Penniman. “Leadership PACs are little-known outside the Beltway,
Read MoreBy midnight on Wednesday, all leadership PACs will have filed their first campaign finance reports of 2019. These reports will detail the fundraising and expenditures of lawmakers’ leadership PACs between January 1 and June 30. According to Issue One’s research, nearly every member of Congress — 86 percent — operates at least one leadership PAC today, including 42 freshman House
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