All posts tagged "Citizens United"

The main super PAC supporting Senate Republicans saw a “huge spike” in dark money contributions in 2025, a sign of the massive arsenal the GOP is building to protect its hold on Congress in November’s midterm elections, according to a new report from political reform group Issue One first reported by Raw Story.

As Democrats aim to capitalize on the growing unpopularity of President Donald Trump and his Republican party and regain control of Congress, the Republican-aligned Senate Leadership Fund skyrocketed dark money contributions by 581 percent in 2025 compared to 2023.

Michael Beckel, money in politics reform director at Issue One, said: “When you see an infusion of money like this, that usually means that these big money groups want to make sure that they have all of the resources they can muster to defend seats, to defend candidates, to defend their majority.”...

Two analysts have hammered former Justice Anthony Kennedy for bemoaning a threat they say he helped create.

In an essay excerpt published Tuesday by Slate, adapted from "Master Plan," the new book from David Sirota and Jared Jacang Maher based on their award-winning podcast, the writers focus on how Kennedy's look back at his legacy might have come too late.

The authors focus on how Kennedy's memoir "Life, Law & Liberty" and its timing might indicate how he's trying to salvage what is left of his imprint on American life, namely how "Kennedy is now trying to shape his legacy on his own terms, and he says he’s worried about the survival of democracy—but democracy is in crisis in no small part because of the decision he authored," the analysts write. ...

Two authors are warning that the right has a secret "master plan" to help billionaires buy elections.

In a Rolling Stone commentary piece published Monday and adapted by David Sirota and Jared Jacang Maher's upcoming book "Master Plan: The Hidden Plot to Legalize Corruption in America," the authors describe how two lawsuits heading to the Supreme Court could eliminate "the last restrictions on campaign donations and obstructing law enforcement’s efforts to halt bribery."

One of those lawsuits is led by Vice President JD Vance, "aiming to reverse a 2001 Supreme Court ruling and eliminate restrictions on political parties’ coordinated spending with candidates." ...

CHICAGO — In ballrooms, barrooms and backrooms this week, the business of big business is getting done with Democrats out of public view.

Yes, Bernie Sanders on Tuesday railed before Democratic National Convention delegates about how “millionaires and billionaires” should “not be able to buy elections.” And sure, curtailing “the corrupting influence of money in politics” is a plank in the 2024 Democratic Party platform.

But most Democrats in Chicago are ignoring the socialist senator and stepping over and around that party plank while pursuing cash that corporations and moneyed special interests are all too keen to contribute....

This article originally appeared in OpenSecrets. Sign up for their weekly newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.

The Koch network’s flagship group, Americans for Prosperity, has spent two decades pouring money into influencing U.S. elections.

As the group celebrates its 20-year anniversary, its hybrid super PAC ranks third in outside spending in the 2024 cycle. ...

Congress quietly drained hundreds of millions of dollars from a largely unused presidential campaign fund to provide a jolt of cash to the United States Secret Service and election security grants, Raw Story has confirmed.

The massive raid of the Presidential Election Campaign Fund was included late last week in Congress’ latest government funding package, which President Joe Biden signed into law.

Raw Story could not confirm which member, or members, of Congress are responsible for inserting language in the middle of the 1,012-page bill that tapped the fund to the tune of $375 million....