Midterm Election Countdown: "Big Money"

October 29, 2014

By Joel Williams

Across the United States, races on every part of the ballot are drawing an ever-increasing amount of funding from both candidates and outside sources. The Congressional midterms will be the most expensive midterm elections to date. A contentious ballot measure in Oregon has broken a state record for spending, while two more in California raised enough money to fund their own U.S. Senate campaigns. At the state level, gubernatorial and state supreme courts have raised hefty sums. National legislative campaign committees of both major parties have raised money for a number of state legislative races, while locally one school board race featured a candidate openly complaining about satellite spending in her favor.

Ballotpedia and Judgepedia provide comprehensive coverage of all these elections. Click here for links to more detailed information on each race.

Highlights

Congressional midterm most expensive ever

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, almost $4 billion will be spent by the time this Congressional midterm is over. That would make it the most expensive midterm ever by nearly $400,000. In 2010, the midterm generated more than $3.6 billion, while spending in the 2006 elections only reached $2.8 billion. Of the $4 billion spent this cycle, about $2.7 billion is projected to be spent by candidates and parties, while outside groups should account for close to $900 million.

In the Senate races, both Kentucky and North Carolina have seen the most spending. Kentucky has accounted for $38 million spent just by candidates and candidate committees, while North Carolina candidates and outside campaign committees have spent $67 million.

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R)

In the House, John Boehner has attracted money due to his position as Speaker of the House, though he doesn't necessarily need it for his own race. Joining Boehner (OH-08) at the top of the list for most expensive races are California's 7th District and Colorado's 6th District. Aside from those three races, seven of the next top eight races in terms of campaign spending have been identified by Ballotpedia as battleground districts.

Ballot issues generating big bucks

Two California ballot measures have raised enough money to fund their own U.S. Senate campaigns, while one Oregon ballot measure broke the state record for money raised by one side of a ballot measure campaign.

• California Proposition 45: California Prop 45 has raised $6,048,002 on the support side and $56,949,326 on the opposition side. The measure, if approved, would grant the elected state insurance commissioner the power to regulate health insurance rates for small businesses (50 or fewer employees) and individuals. Doctors and insurers have been leading the fight to defeat both Prop 45 and Prop 46.
• California Proposition 46: California Prop 46 has raised $12,392,768 on the support side and $57,835,713 on the opposition side. The measure, if approved, would Increase the state's cap on non-economic damages that can be assessed in medical negligence lawsuits to over $1 million from the current cap of $250,000. It would also require drug and alcohol testing of doctors, and suspension of doctors pending investigation of positive tests, among other things. Doctors and insurers have been leading the fight to defeat both Prop 46 and California Proposition 45.
• Oregon Measure 92: Oregon's Measure 92 has broken state records regarding the amount of money raised for a ballot measure. If approved, the measure would mandate the labeling of certain foodstuffs that were produced with or contain genetically modified organisms, The measure is the most expensive in state history, raking in over $25 million from supporters and opponents. It also broke the state record for the amount of money raised by one side of a ballot measure campaign, with opponents having raised over $16.3 million.

Gubernatorial gravy

Florida Governor Rick Scott

As reported last week, Florida's gubernatorial race between former Gov. Charlie Crist (D) and Gov. Rick Scott (R) is extremely close and heavy on the spending. In just the window from September 12 to September 25, supporters on both sides spent more than $10 million on more than 20,000 television ads. A Wesleyan Media Center analysis found that 61.5 percent of the September ads came from backers of Scott, with Tom Steyer's NextGen Climate PAC contributing a large number of ads to this total.

In Arizona, both the Gubernatorial and attorney general races are generating the big bucks. The Republican Governors Association has spent $3.4 million on ads that portray Fred DuVal (D) as bought by lobbyists. The attorney general's race has spent more than $2 million in TV ads, with $1.7 million going to Republican Attorneys General Association ads against Felecia Rotellini (D).

Four state court races with big spending

The state supreme court races in Michigan, Texas, Ohio and North Carolina have generated the most money this year. Michigan leads the way with $4,516,409 raised by eight candidates so far. Texas Supreme Court ($3,146,194 by 13 candidates), Ohio ($2,223,761 by four candidates) and North Carolina ($2,188,535 raised by eight candidates) are next in line. As of the most recent reports, the top five individual fundraisers are all Republican incumbents:

• Nathan Hecht, incumbent running for re-election to the Texas Supreme Court: $1,277,583
• Judith French, incumbent running for re-election to the Ohio Supreme Court: $962,894
• Sharon L. Kennedy, incumbent running for re-election to the Ohio Supreme Court: $949,164
• Brian Zahra, incumbent running for re-election to the Michigan Supreme Court: $910,896
• David Viviano, incumbent running for re-election to the Michigan Supreme Court: $856,376

Incumbents are raising more than their challengers in a majority of cases. In the North Carolina Supreme Court race, challenger Michael L. Robinson has bucked that trend by raising $25,000 more than incumbent Justice Cheri Beasley.

School board candidate complains about her own outside support

Most of the spending in the West Contra Costa Unified School District race has gone to four candidates. Incumbent Madeline Kronenberg has raised the most with $95,323.00. Both Kronenberg and a challenger, Peter Nicholas Chau, have received most of their support from unions and the construction industry. Chau has raised the second largest amount with $39,850.00. Challengers Elizabeth Block and Valerie Cuevas have raised a combined total of $41,601.00, but they have both received significant support from outside groups such as Education Matters and the California Charter Schools Association Advocates Independent Expenditure Committee. Those groups have spent $129,557.78 to support Block, $84,860.79 to support Cuevas and $138,061.48 to oppose Kronenberg.

Candidate Elizabeth Block

Block has publicly complained about the support, and she denied seeking it in the first place. In a story by the Contra Costa Times, Block said:

“

They make it harder for me because from the very beginning of this campaign, it was clear from the questions we've had in our forums that charter schools were going to be an issue that would be raised to be divisive and to try to characterize both Val and myself as pro charter. [...] There's a group of people who are using this to run a negative campaign against Val and myself and it's interesting because this is really meant to be a distraction from all the campaign contributions that Madeline Kronenberg and now Peter Chau this year are taking from construction companies and architectural firms who are participating in our bond programs. [...] That just seems so much more egregious.

”

The bond program Block mentioned is a hot-button issue in the district. On August 1, 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission subpoenaed Board President Charles T. Ramsey and several other district and county officials. A public letter from the SEC characterized the investigation as "a non-public, fact-finding inquiry" meant to "determine whether there have been any violations of the federal securities law." The subpoena requested records on the general obligations bonds issued by the school district between 2009 and 2013, along with additional records involving recent and planned bond refinancing. The district sold $77.46 million in bonds as part of a bond refinancing plan on August 13, 2014. On that same date, the school board voted to cover Ramsey's legal expenses in response to the investigation. Ramsey, who was first elected to the board in 1993, did not file for re-election in the 2014 race.

Elsewhere, the Indianapolis Public Schools donors included some notable national figures, such as Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and former CNN television host Campbell Brown. Three reformer candidates, Mary Ann Sullivan, Kelly Bentley and LaNier L. Echols, collected 79.76 percent of all contributions in the race. They are challenging three incumbents who are perceived to be less friendly towards reforms such as school autonomy and charter schools. These incumbents, Andrea J. Roof, Samantha Adair-White and Michael D. Brown, have collected just 2.57 percent of all contributions. Adair-White and Brown are the only two members who vote consistently against the reformer majority on the board.

State legislatures in the crosshairs

In July 2014, legislative campaign committees affiliated with both major parties released their list of target chambers for this year's election cycle, indicating where they planned to raise and spend most of their money. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) list was divided into two categories: Emerging Majorities and Chambers to Watch. The eight identified as Emerging Majorities were ones where the DLCC felt Democrats would be most likely to reduce Republican majorities, if not flip completely. Chambers to Watch were nine chambers where the DLCC felt enough gains could be made to put the chamber in play for future cycles, or where the party could reach constitutionally significant benchmarks. Likewise, during its national meeting in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the Republican Legislative Campaign Committee (RLCC) announced its "Sweet 16 Targets," which were identified as opportunities to flip legislative control. For a full list of the target chambers on both sides, read here.

See also

• Portal:Elections

• • Congressional (special elections)
  • State executive officials
  • State legislatures (special elections)
  • Statewide ballot measures
  • Local ballot measures
  • Judicial elections
  • School board elections
  • Recall elections