As the numbers emerge, the nation is starting to learn more about how much money each presidential candidate has raised in the final weeks of the 2024 election.
While much of that information is public, some information is not, a reality that raises new concerns about the power of dark money.
2024 is expected to be the most expensive political campaign in history, with Kamala Harris raising $1 billion in three months.
Additionally, just three people donated about $220 million in the three months ending Sept. 30, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
Miriam Adelson donated $95 million, Elon Musk donated $75 million, and Midwest packaging giant Richard Uihlein donated $49 million to groups supporting Trump’s candidacy.
In such cases, the FEC filing will provide details regarding the source of the funds.
There are growing concerns that there are organizations behind the donations that protect the donors.
Eric Eggers, deputy director of the Government Accountability Institute, provided the details in a new report.
“What we could end up with is political candidates and potential officeholders who are being beholden to people we don’t actually know. There’s no transparency.”
Eggers also wrote the 2008 book “Fraud: The Left Plans to Steal the Next Election,” and investigated the left-wing group ActBlue, which does not require donors to submit a CVV, the security code on the back of a credit card. I am doing it. .
“If a credit card does not require a three- or four-digit CVV to help identify the source of the funds, the funds may be coming from a foreign source,” Eggers added.
The House Administration Committee is currently investigating ActBlue, and Republican lawmakers have voiced concerns in a letter to the FEC, calling ActBlue’s donor procedures “sadly substandard” and that its practices “involve foreign sources.” “We are inviting the possibility of donations.”
At a May 16 hearing, Rep. Brian Still (R-Wis.) said, “Only American citizens should donate to elections and vote.”
Concerns about black finance have also been raised by the left. Many Democrats have been calling for years to overturn Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court case that allowed corporations and wealthy donors to spend unlimited amounts of money on elections.
“Billionaires from both parties should not be able to buy elections, including primaries,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (R-Vt.) said in a speech at the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 20. For the sake of our democracy, we must overturn the disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision. ”
By Election Day, voters will expect to know more about who donated what.
The question for many after the election is what big donors will get in return if their favorite candidate or cause wins.
Have a news tip? Contact Kristine Frazao at kifrazao@sbgtv.com or x.com/kristinefrazao. Content on The National Desk is provided by Sinclair, the parent company of FOX45 News.
