The Ten News Election Special -Five Things to Know About Money in Elections - Minisode #3
LISTEN HERE
Five Things to Know About Money in Elections
1.🤨 Why do candidates need to fundraise?
2.đź’° Are there fundraising rules?
3.đź’µ What are Super PACs?
4.âť“ What is all that money spent on?
5.đź’˛ What is GrassRoots fundraising?
Resources
Get Connected
🫶 Help fund The Ten News by donating today!
✔️ Subscribe to our Ten News-letter!
📱 Follow the show on Instagram: @thetennews
📧 Email us at hello@thetennews.com if you have any questions or want to submit audio!
🖱️ Visit thetennews.com for additional resources, our online store, the Ten'ers Club, and more!
Transcript:
INT. TEN NEWS STUDIO
<SFX Text message ding>
PAM: “If you donate just $5 to the Harris/Walz campaign, Governor Walz will send you his family’s famous hotdish recipe–”
RYAN: Good morning Pam, did you see my new drip…?
<SFX text message ding> “
PAM: “If you knew that $5 could help you kick Ted Cruz out of the Senate, wouldn’t it be the best $5 you’ve ever spent?” Paid for by Colin Allred for Senate…Good heavens, I keep getting hit up to donate money!
RYAN: Yeah, I got a bunch of those too and I eventually gave in. And now I have a pair of Trump 45 sneakers and a Trump Pickleball set? And I got the Harris Walz hotdish recipe FYI. I don’t even need this stuff. Where does my money go when I donate to these campaigns?
PAM: That is an excellent question, let’s get into it. I’m Pamela Kirkland.
RYAN: And I’m Ryan Willard, it’s Tuesday, October 22nd.
PAM: We are the Ten News and this is an Election Special Report.
INT. TEN NEWS STUDIO
<SFX text message ding>
RYAN: Honestly, this is just <SFX text message ding> so… <SFX text message ding> many… <SFX text message ding> texts asking for donations.
PAM: It’s a lot, I know Ry. Let’s break it down though. Here are Five Things to Know About Money in Elections…
It costs more money than ever to run for office.
In 2020, the presidential and congressional campaigns spent $14.4 billion dollars. Let me say that again, $14.4 BILLION DOLLARS. That might sound a little crazy, because it is. The presidential campaigns spent $5,700,916,140. And the congressional campaigns spent $8,703,050,547.That’s more than double what was spent In 2016, when the presidential campaigns spent $2,386,876,712 and the congressional campaigns spent $4,124,304,874.
2. Citizens United changed the campaign finance rules…
RYAN: The amount of money spent began to change in 2010 when a conservative non profit group called Citizens United challenged campaign finance rules after the Federal Election Commission stopped it from promoting a film which criticized presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, too close to the election.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Citizens United and the ruling now allows corporations and the wealthiest donors to spend unlimited funds on campaign advertising, as long as they are not formally “coordinating” with a candidate or political party. This is done through Super PACs.
3. What are Super PACs?
RYAN: Pam, what exactly are PACs and Super PACs? Are they like Super Packs of Pokemon cards?
PAM: Not at all…PAC stands for Political Action Committee and its purpose is raising and spending money to elect and defeat candidates. They represent specific interests, like businesses, unions or even ideologies. PACs have contribution limits and can coordinate with candidates.
RYAN: Ahhh got it. And a Super PAC doesn’t give money or coordinate with candidates or parties. And because they don’t coordinate with them, this allows them to raise money without limits. Hence the term, SUPER PAC.
4. What is all that money spent on?
RYAN: Wait wait wait, so if corporations can dump unlimited money into election campaigns, what does all that money actually get spent on?
PAM: Supporting staffers and field officers across the country. Advertisements across television, newspapers, radio and social media platforms. Polling and research. Voter outreach, through rallies and door knocking.
5. What is Grassroots fundraising?
RYAN: So does my $5 donation to the Trump or Harris campaign actually matter or make a difference?
PAM: It does…this is called grassroots fundraising. Grassroots fundraising is a strategy for raising money, where you get small donations from a lot of people, not just a few large donations from a few people.
Big donors can obviously make a big difference, but grassroots donations are a sign of enthusiasm and can prove to the big donors which candidates are the best bet.
RYAN: And the Republican National Convention recently made a rule that to participate in its first debate, any potential candidates had to have 40,000 unique donors to their campaign. So…the grassroots donations actually make a huge difference.
PAM: And that was Five Things to Know About Money in Elections.
RYAN: Pam, I need a bonus one to wrap this up… In the last 5 presidential elections, did the person that raised more money win or lose the election?
PAM: Great question. In four of the last five presidential elections, the candidate who raised more money won the election. The exception was Hillary Clinton in 2016, she raised $563.8M and lost to Trump who raised $333.1M.
RYAN: Wow. So every donation really does count! I need to rethink how I’ve been donating my money… Also, I have to remind you that our regular Ten Things You Need to Know will drop on Thursday. I’m Ryan Willard.
PAM: And I’m Pamela Kirkland, this is the Ten News and thank you for listening to our Election Special Report.
