#also matt's not super at one hundred percent on account of he took on the CIA in a t-shirt and sweatpants and like he WON but it's not GOOD

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

oh my god i'm so in love with all the fic ideas you talked about, but especially the last two with the castles kidnapping matt in like a friendly and well-meaning way. it's so funny to me and also the dynamic here would be absolutely excellent. never realised i needed a pro-crime hyper-competent maria castle in my life but apparently i do???

the dynamic in those, but especially the christmas one, is fucking hilarious. i love it so much. i'd write it tomorrow if i had the time

like the castles are treating this like one of those times where you pick up a puppy out of a cardboard box in a kmart parking lot and like, it's a little scrawny and underfed and feral and yeah, it probably would have been smarter to pick one out of the shelter where at least you know they've been checked out and have their shots and everything, but you know, the kids wanted one so bad and it's christmas, and it's cold and the poor thing's probably going to freeze to death in the cardboard box, so you bring it home, and suddenly it's in these new and unfamiliar surroundings and it keeps trying to skitter out the front door every time it opens, so maybe you have to keep it in a back room or tied up for a while and you hand feed it treats until it stops trying to run away and like, you know eventually the puppy's going to warm up to you as long as you treat it right and when that happens you'll have a happy new member of the family that you can probably shove felt reindeer antlers on for the family christmas card

meanwhile matt's treating this like a fucking kidnapping

[patriotsnet]

Who Raises More Money Democrats Or Republicans

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/who-raises-more-money-democrats-or-republicans/

Who Raises More Money Democrats Or Republicans

The Fundraising Arm Of The Us Democratic Party Raised More Money In July Than Its Republican Counterpart Helped By Big Contributions From Billionaire Donors Including Investor George Soros And Former Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt Disclosures Filed On Friday With The Federal Election Commission Showed The Democratic National Committee Raised About $131 Million Last Month Above The $129 Million Raised By The Republican National Committee

Reuters

The fundraising arm of the U.S.Democratic Party raised more money in July than its Republican counterpart, helped by big contributions from billionaire donors including investor George Soros and former Chief Executive Eric Schmidt.

Disclosures filed on Friday with the Federal Election Commission showed the Democratic National Committee raised about $13.1 million last month, above the $12.9 million raised by the Republican National Committee. The RNC still had more money in the bank at the close of the month – $79 million compared to nearly $68 million held by the DNC – although Democrats narrowed the gap.

Raising more money does not necessarily translate into Election Day victory, but a big bank account helps U.S. parties support their candidates’ campaigns and pays for ads and polling. Democrats have narrow majorities in the U.S.Senate and the House of Representatives, and losing control of either in the November 2022 contests would be a blow to Democratic President Joe Biden’s agenda.

While the DNC has raised slightly more than the RNC this year, Republicans have been spending money more aggressively. It also spent more in July, shelling out $1 million to JDB Marketing Inc, a Mount Pleasant, South Carolina firm that specializes in direct mail fundraising.

Some of the DNC’s largest outlays during the month were also to support fundraising efforts, including more than $1.1 million to RWT Production, a direct mail firm from Annandale, Virginia.

READ MORE ON:

Democrats Raised Twice The Money Republicans Did In Five 2020 Races That Could Determine Control Of The Senate

U.S.Senate2020 ElectionDemocratic PartyRepublican Party

Democratic challengers raised nearly twice the amount Republicans did in first-quarter fundraising in five must-watch races that could determine who controls the Senate, the latest campaign finance figures showed.

Republican incumbents facing tough re-elections races in Arizona, Colorado, Kentucky, Maine and North Carolina all raised significantly less cash than their Democratic rivals in the first three months of 2020.

These contests are some of the best opportunities Democrats have to flip the seats and regain the Senate majority in November. They’re rapidly becoming some of the most expensive and contentious matchups in the country. In Kentucky, for example, the multi-million dollar ad war between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Amy McGrath started 16 months before Election Day.

In some races, such as Maine and North Carolina, Democrats actually doubled the amount of cash brought in by their Republican challengers. In Maine, state representative Sara Gideon raised nearly three times more money than four-term incumbent Susan Collins.

The Senate is now made up of 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents who caucus with the Democrats. Democrats need to win four seats to regain control of the chamber, or three seats if the vice president is a Democrat. The vice president serves as the “president of the Senate” and can cast tie-breaking votes.

Thirty S&p 500 Ceos Vote For Biden With Their Wallet Though They Dont Contribute As Much As Trumps 15 Do

S&P 500 chief executives have combined to give more money to Trump’s campaign than Biden’s, even as the Democratic challenger has more S&P CEOs as donors.

+0.47%

As the Nov. 3 election sparks record campaign contributions, the CEOs of S&P 500 companies are helping to fund the war chests of President Donald Trump and challenger Joe Biden, while also contributing to other Republican and Democratic politicians.

In their political giving as individuals, these chief executives have combined to give more to Trump than Biden. Some 15 CEOs whose companies are components of the S&P 500 US:SPX have donated a total of $2.489 million to Trump’s principal campaign committee, its joint fundraising groups with the Republican National Committee or pro-Trump super PACs.

Meanwhile, 30 chief execs have contributed $536,100 to Biden’s main campaign committee, its joint groups with the Democratic National Committee or pro-Biden super PACs. These figures come from a MarketWatch analysis of processed Federal Election Commission data on individual contributions made between January 2019 and August 2020. Anyone who held the CEO job in 2019 or 2020 at a company that was part of the S&P 500 is included.

S&P 500 CEOs giving their own money to Trump’s campaign

* Former CEO who held the position during the FEC’s 2020 election cycle that started Jan. 1, 2019

Total $536,100.00

* Former CEO who held the position during the FEC’s 2020 election cycle that started Jan. 1, 2019

Companies’ responses

Here’s How The Deficit Performed Under Republican And Democratic Presidents From Reagan To Trump

This article was updated Aug. 2 to include a graph with the annual federal deficit in constant dollars.

A viral post portrays Democrats, not Republicans, as the party of fiscal responsibility, with numbers about the deficit under recent presidents to make the case.

Alex Cole, a political news editor at the website Newsitics, . Within a few hours, several Facebook users postedscreenshots of the tweet, which claims that Republican presidents have been more responsible for contributing to the deficit over the past four decades. 

Those posts racked up several hundred likes and shares. We also found , where it has been upvoted more than 53,000 times.

“Morons: ‘Democrats cause deficits,’” the original tweet reads.

Reagan took the deficit from 70 billion to 175 billion. Bush 41 took it to 300 billion. Clinton got it to zero. Bush 43 took it from 0 to 1.2 trillion.Obama halved it to 600 billion. Trump’s got it back to a trillion.Morons: “Democrats cause deficits.”

— Alex Cole July 23, 2019

Screenshots of the tweet on Facebook were flagged as part of the company’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed.

At PolitiFact, we’vereportedextensively on how Republicans and Democrats often try to pin the federal deficit on each other — muddying the facts in the process. So we wanted to see if this Facebook post is true.

Some people confuse the federal deficit with the debt — but they’re two separate concepts.

Featured Fact-check

The First Modern Campaign Finance Restrictions Were Soon Followed By A Boom In Pac Spending

FEC, Corrado, Center for Responsive Politics

In the early 1970s, and particularly after the election spending abuses revealed in the Watergate scandal, Congress put new limits on donations to candidates. But the overall amount of money in politics didn’t decline. The money instead started going to PACs, or political action committees, rather than candidates. Thousands of new ones were formed, and they started raising hundreds of millions of dollars each year overall. This shows a problem for would-be campaign finance regulators: If one particular aspect of election spending is regulated or capped, big money will try to find another way in.

Congress Responds More To The Preferences Of The Wealthy Than To Those Of Average People

Gilens and Page, “Testing Theories of American Politics

Who really matters in our democracy — the general public, or wealthy elites? These charts, from a study by political scientists Martin Gilens of Princeton and Benjamin Page of Northwestern, seek to answer that question. The first one — the flat line — shows that as more and more average citizens support action on an issue, they’re not any more likely to get what they want. That’s a shocking finding in a democracy. In contrast, the next chart shows that as more economic elites want a certain policy change, they do become more likely to get what they want. Specifically, if fewer than 20 percent of wealthy Americans supported a policy change, it only happened about 18 percent of the time. But when 80 percent of them were in support, the change ended up happening 45 percent of the time. There’s no similar effect for average Americans.

Big Problems With Small Money Republicans Catch Up To Democrats In Online Giving

Alex Seitz-Wald

WASHINGTON — Republicans are beginning to catch up with Democrats in online fundraising, creating for the first time in modern history a political landscape where both parties are largely funded by small donations — for better or, some say, for worse.

Democrats, who have dominated online fundraising since the early days of the internet, have claimed that the billions they raise in small donations are evidence that they are the party of the people, less reliant on wealthy donors and business interests than the GOP.

Republicans have spent years playing catch-up, mostly unsuccessfully. But now, just in time for the 2022 midterm elections, they are starting to pull even, thanks in large part to former President Donald Trump and his army of online devotees.

“This is the harvest of the seeds of digital infrastructure Republicans have been planting for years,” said Matt Gorman, a GOP strategist who worked for the party’s congressional campaign arm during the last midterm election. “That’s why you’re seeing things like freshman members of the House raising over $1 million . In 2018, we were begging folks to raise a fifth of that.”

Even out of office, Trump continues to raise massive sums of money, largely online. He announced Saturday that his political groups had collected nearly $82 million in the first half of the year , giving him a war chest of more than $102 million.

Democratic Party Committees Raised More Money Than Republican Committees In 2013

Paul Blumenthal

WASHINGTON — The three major Democratic Party committees raised $16 million more than their Republican Party counterparts in 2013.

The Democratic committees raised $193 million for the year, compared with $177 million for the three Republican committees, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

The fundraising success for the Democratic committees stems from big numbers posted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The DCCC raised $75.8 million, the most of any party committee, while the DSCC pulled in $52.7 million. Both committees topped their Republican counterparts by more than $15 million.

“Our substantial fundraising lead is the result of one major dynamic: Americans are ready to replace this broken Republican Congress with leaders who have the right priorities and who will focus on solving problems,” DCCC Chairman Steve Israel said in a statement.

The Republican National Committee, however, beat the Democratic National Committee in head-to-head fundraising for the year. In 2013, the RNC raised $80.6, almost $16 million more than the $64.7 million pulled in by the DNC.

The money raised by these committees will finance large advertising purchases in battleground House and Senate races, among other things.

Report: Trump Has Raised More Money In California Than Most Democrat Candidates

California is well known as arguably the most liberal state in America, however recent statistics may shock both Democrats and Republicans.

It looks like there may be more Trump supporters in the “deep blue” state of California than most people think.

According to the news site Cal Matters, President Trump comes in third place for the most money raised in California out of all the Democratic candidates. He is just behind Mayor Pete Buttigieg of Indiana and Senator Kamala Harris who resides in California. 

Check out what Cal Matters reported:

This may come as surprise to the president, the national media and more than a few Californians, but there are plenty of Trump supporters in the “Resistance State,” too. And since the beginning of the year, they’ve been spending a lot of money to keep the president in the White House.

New campaign finance statistics show that President Donald Trump raised $3.2 million—more money from the California donor class than all of his Democratic challengers, but two.

Not only that, but the Trump campaign collected more from itemized small donors—those who gave in increments of less than $100 at a time—than anyone else in the field. The president bested even Democratic contender Bernie Sanders in the small-donor sweepstakes.

But it’s not all pixie dust for Trump in California: 89% of all itemized presidential campaign donations from Californians went to contenders out to defeat him.

More than $3 million has come since the beginning of this year.

Democratic Senate Hopefuls Are Raising Tons Of Money They’re Also Spending It

Congressional races heat up as Dems try to fl…02:14

Democratic Senate hopeful Jaime Harrison of South Carolina raised $57 million between July and September. Sara Gideon in Maine raised more than $39 million in that same period. And Mark Kelly in Arizona brought in $38.7 million. 

These eye-popping numbers shattered the previous record for fundraising, Beto O’Rourke’s $38 million cash haul in the third quarter of 2018. 

Now  the Democrats are spending that money in the face of massive Republican super PAC funds. And it’s left many Republican candidates with more cash on hand than the Democrats in the final weeks of the race.

In South Carolina, where the Senate race is unexpectedly tight, Harrison’s $57 million in three months was double Republican incumbent Senator Lindsey Graham’s $28 million haul, a state record for a Republican. Records show from July through September, Harrison spent more than $55 million. According to his October FEC filing, Harrison paid AL Media LLC more than $42 million over three months for TV, radio and digital advertising. He also spent another $6.5 million for digital advertising and services to Mothership Strategies, and $2 million to Blueprint Strategy LLC for radio and billboard advertising. $641,000 went to “direct mailing services.” That amounts to more than $51 million spent on ads and direct mail alone. 

Who Is Richer Democrats Or Republicans The Answer Probably Wont Surprise You

Which of the two political parties has more money, Democrats or Republicans? Most would rush to say Republicans due to the party’s ideas towards tax and money. In fact, polls have shown about 60 percent of the American people believe Republicans favor the rich. But how true is that?  can help you write about the issue but read our post first.

Presidential Campaign Spending Is Overwhelmingly On Tv Ads In Swing States

Data: Kantar, Analysis: John Sides, Washington Post

Presidential campaign money goes overwhelmingly to purchasing TV ads in just a few swing states. This map shows where ad spending was heaviest in 2012: Florida, Virginia, and Ohio, where more than $150 million was spent. Iowa, North Carolina, Colorado, and Nevada saw more than $50 million each. But most of the country saw nothing at all. Presidential campaigns have become a quadrennial stimulus bill for purple states funded by donors in red and blue states.

Democratic Party Enters 2021 In Power And Flush With Cash For A Change

The Democratic National Committee has a roughly $75 million war chest, raising the party’s hopes of keeping power in 2022 and accelerating a Democratic shift in the Sun Belt states.

After years of flirting with financial disaster, the Democratic Party entered 2021 not only in control of the White House, the House and the Senate but with more money in the bank than ever before at the start of a political cycle.

The Democratic National Committee will report to the Federal Election Commission on Sunday that it ended 2020 with $38.8 million in the bank and $3 million in debts, according to an advance look at its financial filings. In addition, there is roughly $40 million earmarked for the party, left over from its joint operations with the Biden campaign, according to people familiar with the matter. This gives the Democrats a roughly $75 million war chest at the start of President Biden’s tenure.

“This is a number that is unimaginable,” said Howard Dean, a former party chairman.

Party data, resources and infrastructure undergird candidates up and down the ballot, and Democratic officials are already dreaming of early investments in voter registration that may accelerate the political realignment Democrat are hoping to bring about in key Sun Belt states.

“We had to juggle who we were going to pay,” Tom Perez, who until earlier this month was the chairman of the D.N.C., said of the early part of his tenure, which began in 2017.

The Supreme Court Has Struck Down Many Limitations On Election Spending

Over the past four decades, Congressional attempts to regulate the campaign finance system have repeatedly been stymied by the Supreme Court on First Amendment grounds. This table lists the major cases in which the court has ruled campaign finance restrictions unconstitutional — and how closely divided the court has been in every case. The first major such case was Buckley v. Valeo, in 1976, which struck down much of the newly-adopted campaign finance infrastructure in the name of free speech. The next major campaign finance overhaul — the 2002 McCain-Feingold law — survived an initial court challenge in 2003. But after Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was replaced with the more conservative Sam Alito in 2006, the court had a majority that objected to major provisions of the law. Since then, a series of 5-4 decisions have narrowed the scope of permissible campaign finance regulations further and further.

Us Democratic Fundraising Arm Outraises Republican Counterpart In July

Jason Lange

Supporters of Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Joe Biden gather with their cars for a socially distanced election celebration as they await Biden’s remarks and fireworks in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S. November 7, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

WASHINGTON, Aug 20 – The fundraising arm of the U.S. Democratic Party raised more money in July than its Republican counterpart, helped by big contributions from billionaire donors including investor George Soros and former Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt.

Disclosures filed on Friday with the Federal Election Commission showed the Democratic National Committee raised about $13.1 million last month, above the $12.9 million raised by the Republican National Committee.

The RNC still had more money in the bank at the close of the month – $79 million compared to nearly $68 million held by the DNC – although Democrats narrowed the gap.

Raising more money does not necessarily translate into Election Day victory, but a big bank account helps U.S. parties support their candidates’ campaigns and pays for ads and polling.

Democrats have narrow majorities in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives, and losing control of either in the November 2022 contests would be a blow to Democratic President Joe Biden’s agenda.

Soros, a famed investor and a bogeyman of conservatives due to his status as a major donor for liberal causes, gave the DNC at least $250,000 in July.

Who Raised More Money In A Majority Of Tight House Races Democrats Did

Total reported in the most competitive House races

DEMOCRATS RAISED $172MILLION

With the midterm elections just weeks away, Democratic candidates have outraised their Republican opponents in a majority of the 69 most competitive House races, according to fund-raising numbers filed by the candidates on Monday. Some of the biggest earners include two Democratic women: Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey’s 11th District and Amy McGrath in Kentucky’s Sixth District.

Many Democratic candidates raised large sums from small donations online. Democrats are betting on small donor energy to make a difference in tight races.

Facing a host of tough races, Republican Party leaders have begun pulling money away from some struggling incumbents, especially in suburbs where President Trump is unpopular.

How much candidates in the most competitive House races have raised

*Incumbent shown with an asterisk.

DISTRICT

Republicans Winning Money Race As They Seek To Take Over House In 2022

The National Republican Congressional Committee announced Wednesday that it had raised $45.4 million in the second quarter of 2021, the most it has ever raised in three months of a non-election year, as Republicans seek to take over the House in 2022.

House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy This story has been updated with additional developments Wednesday.

The Most Famous Political Figures Can Make Millions In Speaking Fees

CNN

For the top echelon of famous and recognizable political figures, there’s another way to cash in after leaving offices — by giving high-priced speeches to corporate groups. Former politicians and aides from both parties participate in this practice — the more famous they are, the higher the fee they tend to be able to charge. But the undisputed king of speaking fees is Bill Clinton, who charges at least $250,000 per speech — and charged $750,000 for at least one. This chart, based on data assembled by CNN, shows how speaking fees have made Clinton over $100 million since he left office.

How Trumps Team Spent Most Of The $16 Billion It Raised Over 2 Years

Biden and Trump spar in final presidential debate

President Donald Trump‘s reelection team kicked off 2020 with what seemed like an unbeatable cash advantage, boasting a massive fundraising operation, bolstered by the joint efforts of the Republican Party.

Fast-forward 10 months and they’ve burned through a whopping $1.4 billion of the more than $1.6 billion raised over the last two years, struggling to keep up with former Vice President Joe Biden, more than what former President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign and the Democrats had raised and spent by the end of the 2012 cycle.

The revealing figures, released as the two presidential candidates debated on stage Thursday night for the last time before Election Day, came after the campaign blew through $63 million in the first two weeks of October alone — a critical time when it only brought in $44 million. The vast majority of the money spent during that time — nearly $45 million — went to television and online advertising, according to the latest disclosure report filed to the Federal Election Commission, as Biden and pro-Biden efforts ramped up his ad spending.

MORE: Trump campaign trailing behind Biden in funding, weeks before Election Day, new filings show

MORE: Trump commits to familiar playbook to define Biden in tamer final debate: ANALYSIS

So where has the president’s money gone?

MORE: Trump heads into final campaign stretch forced to play defense against Biden

Questions about staff payments

The Massive Difference In How Democrats And Republicans Raise Money

You probably have a preconceived notion of where the political parties raise their money. Republicans get lots of donations from wealthy individuals and corporate interests; Democrats get money from less rich individuals and a somewhat overlapping set of corporate interests. Well, we have news for you: That perception is completely correct.

arrow-right

At least, that is, for the parties’ Governors Associations. On Tuesday, organizations and candidates that raise money for political campaigns had to file quarterly reports with the Federal Election Commission. The Democratic Governors Association and the Republican Governors Association both reported how much they’d raised between April 1 and June 30. The RGA did much better, about $24 million raised versus under $14 million, although the DGA had more donors, about 1,500 to 400.

When money is given to these groups, which can accept unlimited donations unlike their federal counterparts, the organizations have to document who gave, and how much, and when. Organizations that give just list an address; individuals have to identify their employer. Which lets us see pretty easily how those two groups break down.

And so, we see that the RGA got a much larger percentage of their donations from organizations than did the DGA.

far86 times

Who are these beneficent individuals? The DeVos family, of Amway fame. Las Vegas megadonor Sheldon Adelson. And  Kotch? Koch? Someone named “David Koch,” if you’ve heard of him.

Congressional Staffers Can Take Trips Funded By Foreign Governments

Washington Post

After the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, Congress put several new restrictions on gifts that could be offered to members of Congress or their staffers. Yet there’s one significant loophole that remains — Congressional staffers are allowed to take trips abroad funded by foreign governments.The Washington Post’s TW Farnam reported on paid trips taken by Congressional staffers last year, and the map here is our depiction of Farnam’s findings. Between 2006 and 2011, 226 staffers took trips to China, 121 to Taiwan, and 65 to Saudi Arabia — where those countries’ governments footed the bill.

[patriotsnet]

Who Raises More Money Democrats Or Republicans

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/who-raises-more-money-democrats-or-republicans/

Who Raises More Money Democrats Or Republicans

The Fundraising Arm Of The Us Democratic Party Raised More Money In July Than Its Republican Counterpart Helped By Big Contributions From Billionaire Donors Including Investor George Soros And Former Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt Disclosures Filed On Friday With The Federal Election Commission Showed The Democratic National Committee Raised About $131 Million Last Month Above The $129 Million Raised By The Republican National Committee

Reuters

The fundraising arm of the U.S.Democratic Party raised more money in July than its Republican counterpart, helped by big contributions from billionaire donors including investor George Soros and former Chief Executive Eric Schmidt.

Disclosures filed on Friday with the Federal Election Commission showed the Democratic National Committee raised about $13.1 million last month, above the $12.9 million raised by the Republican National Committee. The RNC still had more money in the bank at the close of the month – $79 million compared to nearly $68 million held by the DNC – although Democrats narrowed the gap.

Raising more money does not necessarily translate into Election Day victory, but a big bank account helps U.S. parties support their candidates’ campaigns and pays for ads and polling. Democrats have narrow majorities in the U.S.Senate and the House of Representatives, and losing control of either in the November 2022 contests would be a blow to Democratic President Joe Biden’s agenda.

While the DNC has raised slightly more than the RNC this year, Republicans have been spending money more aggressively. It also spent more in July, shelling out $1 million to JDB Marketing Inc, a Mount Pleasant, South Carolina firm that specializes in direct mail fundraising.

Some of the DNC’s largest outlays during the month were also to support fundraising efforts, including more than $1.1 million to RWT Production, a direct mail firm from Annandale, Virginia.

READ MORE ON:

Democrats Raised Twice The Money Republicans Did In Five 2020 Races That Could Determine Control Of The Senate

U.S.Senate2020 ElectionDemocratic PartyRepublican Party

Democratic challengers raised nearly twice the amount Republicans did in first-quarter fundraising in five must-watch races that could determine who controls the Senate, the latest campaign finance figures showed.

Republican incumbents facing tough re-elections races in Arizona, Colorado, Kentucky, Maine and North Carolina all raised significantly less cash than their Democratic rivals in the first three months of 2020.

These contests are some of the best opportunities Democrats have to flip the seats and regain the Senate majority in November. They’re rapidly becoming some of the most expensive and contentious matchups in the country. In Kentucky, for example, the multi-million dollar ad war between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Amy McGrath started 16 months before Election Day.

In some races, such as Maine and North Carolina, Democrats actually doubled the amount of cash brought in by their Republican challengers. In Maine, state representative Sara Gideon raised nearly three times more money than four-term incumbent Susan Collins.

The Senate is now made up of 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents who caucus with the Democrats. Democrats need to win four seats to regain control of the chamber, or three seats if the vice president is a Democrat. The vice president serves as the “president of the Senate” and can cast tie-breaking votes.

Thirty S&p 500 Ceos Vote For Biden With Their Wallet Though They Dont Contribute As Much As Trumps 15 Do

S&P 500 chief executives have combined to give more money to Trump’s campaign than Biden’s, even as the Democratic challenger has more S&P CEOs as donors.

+0.47%

As the Nov. 3 election sparks record campaign contributions, the CEOs of S&P 500 companies are helping to fund the war chests of President Donald Trump and challenger Joe Biden, while also contributing to other Republican and Democratic politicians.

In their political giving as individuals, these chief executives have combined to give more to Trump than Biden. Some 15 CEOs whose companies are components of the S&P 500 US:SPX have donated a total of $2.489 million to Trump’s principal campaign committee, its joint fundraising groups with the Republican National Committee or pro-Trump super PACs.

Meanwhile, 30 chief execs have contributed $536,100 to Biden’s main campaign committee, its joint groups with the Democratic National Committee or pro-Biden super PACs. These figures come from a MarketWatch analysis of processed Federal Election Commission data on individual contributions made between January 2019 and August 2020. Anyone who held the CEO job in 2019 or 2020 at a company that was part of the S&P 500 is included.

S&P 500 CEOs giving their own money to Trump’s campaign

* Former CEO who held the position during the FEC’s 2020 election cycle that started Jan. 1, 2019

Total $536,100.00

* Former CEO who held the position during the FEC’s 2020 election cycle that started Jan. 1, 2019

Companies’ responses

Here’s How The Deficit Performed Under Republican And Democratic Presidents From Reagan To Trump

This article was updated Aug. 2 to include a graph with the annual federal deficit in constant dollars.

A viral post portrays Democrats, not Republicans, as the party of fiscal responsibility, with numbers about the deficit under recent presidents to make the case.

Alex Cole, a political news editor at the website Newsitics, . Within a few hours, several Facebook users postedscreenshots of the tweet, which claims that Republican presidents have been more responsible for contributing to the deficit over the past four decades. 

Those posts racked up several hundred likes and shares. We also found , where it has been upvoted more than 53,000 times.

“Morons: ‘Democrats cause deficits,’” the original tweet reads.

Reagan took the deficit from 70 billion to 175 billion. Bush 41 took it to 300 billion. Clinton got it to zero. Bush 43 took it from 0 to 1.2 trillion.Obama halved it to 600 billion. Trump’s got it back to a trillion.Morons: “Democrats cause deficits.”

— Alex Cole July 23, 2019

Screenshots of the tweet on Facebook were flagged as part of the company’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed.

At PolitiFact, we’vereportedextensively on how Republicans and Democrats often try to pin the federal deficit on each other — muddying the facts in the process. So we wanted to see if this Facebook post is true.

Some people confuse the federal deficit with the debt — but they’re two separate concepts.

Featured Fact-check

The First Modern Campaign Finance Restrictions Were Soon Followed By A Boom In Pac Spending

FEC, Corrado, Center for Responsive Politics

In the early 1970s, and particularly after the election spending abuses revealed in the Watergate scandal, Congress put new limits on donations to candidates. But the overall amount of money in politics didn’t decline. The money instead started going to PACs, or political action committees, rather than candidates. Thousands of new ones were formed, and they started raising hundreds of millions of dollars each year overall. This shows a problem for would-be campaign finance regulators: If one particular aspect of election spending is regulated or capped, big money will try to find another way in.

Congress Responds More To The Preferences Of The Wealthy Than To Those Of Average People

Gilens and Page, “Testing Theories of American Politics

Who really matters in our democracy — the general public, or wealthy elites? These charts, from a study by political scientists Martin Gilens of Princeton and Benjamin Page of Northwestern, seek to answer that question. The first one — the flat line — shows that as more and more average citizens support action on an issue, they’re not any more likely to get what they want. That’s a shocking finding in a democracy. In contrast, the next chart shows that as more economic elites want a certain policy change, they do become more likely to get what they want. Specifically, if fewer than 20 percent of wealthy Americans supported a policy change, it only happened about 18 percent of the time. But when 80 percent of them were in support, the change ended up happening 45 percent of the time. There’s no similar effect for average Americans.

Big Problems With Small Money Republicans Catch Up To Democrats In Online Giving

Alex Seitz-Wald

WASHINGTON — Republicans are beginning to catch up with Democrats in online fundraising, creating for the first time in modern history a political landscape where both parties are largely funded by small donations — for better or, some say, for worse.

Democrats, who have dominated online fundraising since the early days of the internet, have claimed that the billions they raise in small donations are evidence that they are the party of the people, less reliant on wealthy donors and business interests than the GOP.

Republicans have spent years playing catch-up, mostly unsuccessfully. But now, just in time for the 2022 midterm elections, they are starting to pull even, thanks in large part to former President Donald Trump and his army of online devotees.

“This is the harvest of the seeds of digital infrastructure Republicans have been planting for years,” said Matt Gorman, a GOP strategist who worked for the party’s congressional campaign arm during the last midterm election. “That’s why you’re seeing things like freshman members of the House raising over $1 million . In 2018, we were begging folks to raise a fifth of that.”

Even out of office, Trump continues to raise massive sums of money, largely online. He announced Saturday that his political groups had collected nearly $82 million in the first half of the year , giving him a war chest of more than $102 million.

Democratic Party Committees Raised More Money Than Republican Committees In 2013

Paul Blumenthal

WASHINGTON — The three major Democratic Party committees raised $16 million more than their Republican Party counterparts in 2013.

The Democratic committees raised $193 million for the year, compared with $177 million for the three Republican committees, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

The fundraising success for the Democratic committees stems from big numbers posted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The DCCC raised $75.8 million, the most of any party committee, while the DSCC pulled in $52.7 million. Both committees topped their Republican counterparts by more than $15 million.

“Our substantial fundraising lead is the result of one major dynamic: Americans are ready to replace this broken Republican Congress with leaders who have the right priorities and who will focus on solving problems,” DCCC Chairman Steve Israel said in a statement.

The Republican National Committee, however, beat the Democratic National Committee in head-to-head fundraising for the year. In 2013, the RNC raised $80.6, almost $16 million more than the $64.7 million pulled in by the DNC.

The money raised by these committees will finance large advertising purchases in battleground House and Senate races, among other things.

Report: Trump Has Raised More Money In California Than Most Democrat Candidates

California is well known as arguably the most liberal state in America, however recent statistics may shock both Democrats and Republicans.

It looks like there may be more Trump supporters in the “deep blue” state of California than most people think.

According to the news site Cal Matters, President Trump comes in third place for the most money raised in California out of all the Democratic candidates. He is just behind Mayor Pete Buttigieg of Indiana and Senator Kamala Harris who resides in California. 

Check out what Cal Matters reported:

This may come as surprise to the president, the national media and more than a few Californians, but there are plenty of Trump supporters in the “Resistance State,” too. And since the beginning of the year, they’ve been spending a lot of money to keep the president in the White House.

New campaign finance statistics show that President Donald Trump raised $3.2 million—more money from the California donor class than all of his Democratic challengers, but two.

Not only that, but the Trump campaign collected more from itemized small donors—those who gave in increments of less than $100 at a time—than anyone else in the field. The president bested even Democratic contender Bernie Sanders in the small-donor sweepstakes.

But it’s not all pixie dust for Trump in California: 89% of all itemized presidential campaign donations from Californians went to contenders out to defeat him.

More than $3 million has come since the beginning of this year.

Democratic Senate Hopefuls Are Raising Tons Of Money They’re Also Spending It

Congressional races heat up as Dems try to fl…02:14

Democratic Senate hopeful Jaime Harrison of South Carolina raised $57 million between July and September. Sara Gideon in Maine raised more than $39 million in that same period. And Mark Kelly in Arizona brought in $38.7 million. 

These eye-popping numbers shattered the previous record for fundraising, Beto O’Rourke’s $38 million cash haul in the third quarter of 2018. 

Now  the Democrats are spending that money in the face of massive Republican super PAC funds. And it’s left many Republican candidates with more cash on hand than the Democrats in the final weeks of the race.

In South Carolina, where the Senate race is unexpectedly tight, Harrison’s $57 million in three months was double Republican incumbent Senator Lindsey Graham’s $28 million haul, a state record for a Republican. Records show from July through September, Harrison spent more than $55 million. According to his October FEC filing, Harrison paid AL Media LLC more than $42 million over three months for TV, radio and digital advertising. He also spent another $6.5 million for digital advertising and services to Mothership Strategies, and $2 million to Blueprint Strategy LLC for radio and billboard advertising. $641,000 went to “direct mailing services.” That amounts to more than $51 million spent on ads and direct mail alone. 

Who Is Richer Democrats Or Republicans The Answer Probably Wont Surprise You

Which of the two political parties has more money, Democrats or Republicans? Most would rush to say Republicans due to the party’s ideas towards tax and money. In fact, polls have shown about 60 percent of the American people believe Republicans favor the rich. But how true is that?  can help you write about the issue but read our post first.

Presidential Campaign Spending Is Overwhelmingly On Tv Ads In Swing States

Data: Kantar, Analysis: John Sides, Washington Post

Presidential campaign money goes overwhelmingly to purchasing TV ads in just a few swing states. This map shows where ad spending was heaviest in 2012: Florida, Virginia, and Ohio, where more than $150 million was spent. Iowa, North Carolina, Colorado, and Nevada saw more than $50 million each. But most of the country saw nothing at all. Presidential campaigns have become a quadrennial stimulus bill for purple states funded by donors in red and blue states.

Democratic Party Enters 2021 In Power And Flush With Cash For A Change

The Democratic National Committee has a roughly $75 million war chest, raising the party’s hopes of keeping power in 2022 and accelerating a Democratic shift in the Sun Belt states.

After years of flirting with financial disaster, the Democratic Party entered 2021 not only in control of the White House, the House and the Senate but with more money in the bank than ever before at the start of a political cycle.

The Democratic National Committee will report to the Federal Election Commission on Sunday that it ended 2020 with $38.8 million in the bank and $3 million in debts, according to an advance look at its financial filings. In addition, there is roughly $40 million earmarked for the party, left over from its joint operations with the Biden campaign, according to people familiar with the matter. This gives the Democrats a roughly $75 million war chest at the start of President Biden’s tenure.

“This is a number that is unimaginable,” said Howard Dean, a former party chairman.

Party data, resources and infrastructure undergird candidates up and down the ballot, and Democratic officials are already dreaming of early investments in voter registration that may accelerate the political realignment Democrat are hoping to bring about in key Sun Belt states.

“We had to juggle who we were going to pay,” Tom Perez, who until earlier this month was the chairman of the D.N.C., said of the early part of his tenure, which began in 2017.

The Supreme Court Has Struck Down Many Limitations On Election Spending

Over the past four decades, Congressional attempts to regulate the campaign finance system have repeatedly been stymied by the Supreme Court on First Amendment grounds. This table lists the major cases in which the court has ruled campaign finance restrictions unconstitutional — and how closely divided the court has been in every case. The first major such case was Buckley v. Valeo, in 1976, which struck down much of the newly-adopted campaign finance infrastructure in the name of free speech. The next major campaign finance overhaul — the 2002 McCain-Feingold law — survived an initial court challenge in 2003. But after Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was replaced with the more conservative Sam Alito in 2006, the court had a majority that objected to major provisions of the law. Since then, a series of 5-4 decisions have narrowed the scope of permissible campaign finance regulations further and further.

Us Democratic Fundraising Arm Outraises Republican Counterpart In July

Jason Lange

Supporters of Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Joe Biden gather with their cars for a socially distanced election celebration as they await Biden’s remarks and fireworks in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S. November 7, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

WASHINGTON, Aug 20 – The fundraising arm of the U.S. Democratic Party raised more money in July than its Republican counterpart, helped by big contributions from billionaire donors including investor George Soros and former Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt.

Disclosures filed on Friday with the Federal Election Commission showed the Democratic National Committee raised about $13.1 million last month, above the $12.9 million raised by the Republican National Committee.

The RNC still had more money in the bank at the close of the month – $79 million compared to nearly $68 million held by the DNC – although Democrats narrowed the gap.

Raising more money does not necessarily translate into Election Day victory, but a big bank account helps U.S. parties support their candidates’ campaigns and pays for ads and polling.

Democrats have narrow majorities in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives, and losing control of either in the November 2022 contests would be a blow to Democratic President Joe Biden’s agenda.

Soros, a famed investor and a bogeyman of conservatives due to his status as a major donor for liberal causes, gave the DNC at least $250,000 in July.

Who Raised More Money In A Majority Of Tight House Races Democrats Did

Total reported in the most competitive House races

DEMOCRATS RAISED $172MILLION

With the midterm elections just weeks away, Democratic candidates have outraised their Republican opponents in a majority of the 69 most competitive House races, according to fund-raising numbers filed by the candidates on Monday. Some of the biggest earners include two Democratic women: Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey’s 11th District and Amy McGrath in Kentucky’s Sixth District.

Many Democratic candidates raised large sums from small donations online. Democrats are betting on small donor energy to make a difference in tight races.

Facing a host of tough races, Republican Party leaders have begun pulling money away from some struggling incumbents, especially in suburbs where President Trump is unpopular.

How much candidates in the most competitive House races have raised

*Incumbent shown with an asterisk.

DISTRICT

Republicans Winning Money Race As They Seek To Take Over House In 2022

The National Republican Congressional Committee announced Wednesday that it had raised $45.4 million in the second quarter of 2021, the most it has ever raised in three months of a non-election year, as Republicans seek to take over the House in 2022.

House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy This story has been updated with additional developments Wednesday.

The Most Famous Political Figures Can Make Millions In Speaking Fees

CNN

For the top echelon of famous and recognizable political figures, there’s another way to cash in after leaving offices — by giving high-priced speeches to corporate groups. Former politicians and aides from both parties participate in this practice — the more famous they are, the higher the fee they tend to be able to charge. But the undisputed king of speaking fees is Bill Clinton, who charges at least $250,000 per speech — and charged $750,000 for at least one. This chart, based on data assembled by CNN, shows how speaking fees have made Clinton over $100 million since he left office.

How Trumps Team Spent Most Of The $16 Billion It Raised Over 2 Years

Biden and Trump spar in final presidential debate

President Donald Trump‘s reelection team kicked off 2020 with what seemed like an unbeatable cash advantage, boasting a massive fundraising operation, bolstered by the joint efforts of the Republican Party.

Fast-forward 10 months and they’ve burned through a whopping $1.4 billion of the more than $1.6 billion raised over the last two years, struggling to keep up with former Vice President Joe Biden, more than what former President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign and the Democrats had raised and spent by the end of the 2012 cycle.

The revealing figures, released as the two presidential candidates debated on stage Thursday night for the last time before Election Day, came after the campaign blew through $63 million in the first two weeks of October alone — a critical time when it only brought in $44 million. The vast majority of the money spent during that time — nearly $45 million — went to television and online advertising, according to the latest disclosure report filed to the Federal Election Commission, as Biden and pro-Biden efforts ramped up his ad spending.

MORE: Trump campaign trailing behind Biden in funding, weeks before Election Day, new filings show

MORE: Trump commits to familiar playbook to define Biden in tamer final debate: ANALYSIS

So where has the president’s money gone?

MORE: Trump heads into final campaign stretch forced to play defense against Biden

Questions about staff payments

The Massive Difference In How Democrats And Republicans Raise Money

You probably have a preconceived notion of where the political parties raise their money. Republicans get lots of donations from wealthy individuals and corporate interests; Democrats get money from less rich individuals and a somewhat overlapping set of corporate interests. Well, we have news for you: That perception is completely correct.

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At least, that is, for the parties’ Governors Associations. On Tuesday, organizations and candidates that raise money for political campaigns had to file quarterly reports with the Federal Election Commission. The Democratic Governors Association and the Republican Governors Association both reported how much they’d raised between April 1 and June 30. The RGA did much better, about $24 million raised versus under $14 million, although the DGA had more donors, about 1,500 to 400.

When money is given to these groups, which can accept unlimited donations unlike their federal counterparts, the organizations have to document who gave, and how much, and when. Organizations that give just list an address; individuals have to identify their employer. Which lets us see pretty easily how those two groups break down.

And so, we see that the RGA got a much larger percentage of their donations from organizations than did the DGA.

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Who are these beneficent individuals? The DeVos family, of Amway fame. Las Vegas megadonor Sheldon Adelson. And  Kotch? Koch? Someone named “David Koch,” if you’ve heard of him.

Congressional Staffers Can Take Trips Funded By Foreign Governments

Washington Post

After the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, Congress put several new restrictions on gifts that could be offered to members of Congress or their staffers. Yet there’s one significant loophole that remains — Congressional staffers are allowed to take trips abroad funded by foreign governments.The Washington Post’s TW Farnam reported on paid trips taken by Congressional staffers last year, and the map here is our depiction of Farnam’s findings. Between 2006 and 2011, 226 staffers took trips to China, 121 to Taiwan, and 65 to Saudi Arabia — where those countries’ governments footed the bill.