Fundraising has spiked for candidates running for secretary of state in the key swing states of Georgia, Michigan, and Minnesota compared to past cycles, according to a new report.
Article by Isabel Van Brugen from our premium news partners at The Epoch Times.
The report, released on Wednesday by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, showed that campaign donations across the three states so far, based on preliminary data, is 2.5 times higher than it was at the same point in either of the past two election cycles.
“These are traditionally very sleepy elections. These are bureaucrats no one cares about,” said Ian Vandewalker, a senior counsel at the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program and a co-author of the report.
The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School is a nonprofit law and public policy institute, and is named after Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan.
Secretary of state positions in swing states hold substantial power in determining how votes are certified.
Vandewalker said, “Controlling who’s running the elections is potentially a route to winning the elections.”
In the states of Georgia and Michigan, which were crucial to President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, secretary of state candidates have received 2.5 times more campaign donations than they had at a similar point in the previous two election cycles, according to the Brennan Center’s analysis.
The report states that the same pattern is being observed in Minnesota, although the amounts raised in there are much smaller.
“These elections will determine who is in charge of running and making key decisions about our elections in 2024. Put simply, what we are seeing so far is very disturbing,” co-author Lawrence Norden said in a Twitter thread of the findings.
“A sign of the new high profile of these contests can be seen in the fundraising data. In the Secretary of State contests where data is available, candidates have raised 2.5x more money than those at the same stage in 2018,” Norden explained.
“And there are early signs these contests are getting nationalized. In the Georgia SoS election, 22% of funding in the latest campaign finance filings cam [sic] from out of state donors,” he added. “That’s a huge increase from the full cycles in 2014 and 2018.”
Data available so far suggests that the United States will see record amounts of money in election administrator contests this year, the report suggests.
“Candidates in the great majority of the states in question will submit new filings at the end of January, so more information will be available soon,” Vandewalker and Norden noted.
Meanwhile, at the federal level, Democrats are looking at ways to push through their preferred election rule reforms, such as proposals to expand the period for early voting and banning states from requiring an excuse to vote absentee, without bipartisan support.
Biden has said he is prepared to eliminate the Senate’s filibuster—a safeguard which requires 60 of the 100 senators to agree on legislation—if need, be to pass the reform measures opposed by Republicans.
Will America-First News Outlets Make it to 2023?
Things are looking grim for conservative and populist news sites.
There’s something happening behind the scenes at several popular conservative news outlets. 2021 was bad, but 2022 is proving to be disastrous for news sites that aren’t “playing ball” with the corporate media narrative. It’s being said that advertisers are cracking down, forcing some of the biggest ad networks like Google and Yahoo to pull their inventory from conservative outlets. This has had two major effects. First, it has cooled most conservative outlets from discussing “taboo” topics like Pandemic Panic Theater, voter fraud, or The Great Reset. Second, it has isolated those ad networks that aren’t playing ball.
Certain topics are anathema for most ad networks. Speaking out against vaccines or vaccine mandates is a certain path to being demonetized. Highlighting voter fraud in the 2020 and future elections is another instant advertising death penalty. Throw in truthful stories about climate change hysteria, Critical Race Theory, and the border crisis and it’s easy to understand how difficult it is for America-First news outlets to spread the facts, share conservative opinions, and still pay the bills.
Without naming names, I have been told of several news outlets who have been forced to either consolidate with larger organizations or who have backed down on covering certain topics out of fear of being “canceled” by the ad networks. I get it. This is a business for many of us and it’s not very profitable. Those of us who do this for a living are often barely squeaking by, so loss of additional revenue can often mean being forced to make cuts. That means not being able to cover the topics properly. Its a Catch-22: Tell the truth and lose the money necessary to keep telling the truth, or avoid the truth and make enough money to survive. Those who have chosen survival simply aren’t able to spread the truth properly.
We will never avoid the truth. The Lord will provide if it is His will. Our job is simply to share the facts, spread the Gospel, and educate as many Americans as possible while exposing the forces of evil.
To those who have the means, we ask that you please donate. We have options available now, but there is no telling when those options will cancel us. We just launched a new GiveSendGo page. We also have our GivingFuel page. There have been many who have been canceled by PayPal, but for now it’s still an option. Your generosity is what keeps these sites running and allows us to get the truth to the masses. We’ve had great success in growing but we know we can do more with your assistance.
Thank you, and God Bless!
JD Rucker
