Five Days
FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | October 29, 2020
Staggering amounts of campaign money are being raised and spent in the 2020 presidential and congressional elections.
Total spending in this election cycle is estimated to reach a record-shattering $14 billion, more than twice the amount spent in the 2016 election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Small donors have provided a total or $2.7 billion or 22 percent of the contributions raised for the 2020 elections – a record amount and a record percentage. This is a 50-percent increase over the percentage of small donations in the 2016 cycle, according to the Center.
However, independent spending by super PACs, political parties, nonprofit dark money groups, and others totaled $2.6 billion, the Center reported. And, unlike small donations, this money largely consists of huge influence-seeking contributions that provide corrupting influence over federal officeholders and government policy decisions.
That’s why it’s so important to enact the small donor public matching funds system in H.R. 1, sponsored by Rep. John Sarbanes and passed by the House in 2019 with the support of every Democrat. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated today, “We’re going to have H.R. 1 right off the bat” in 2021. Every Senate Democrat also is on record in support of the Senate companion bill to H.R. 1.
We can dramatically limit the impact of big money on officeholders and government policies by flooding the system with small contributions and giving candidates the non-corrupting funds they need to be free from being dependent on and obligated to influence-seeking funders.
The new small donor financing system would empower tens of millions of small donors by matching small contributions to federal candidates of up to $200 per donor with public funds at a 6-to-1 ratio.
When combined with the rapidly increasing ability for candidates to raise small contributions online, as shown in the 2020 elections, the small donor system would provide candidates with the resources they need to run competitive races without being dependent on big money funders.
If current polling holds up, and Democrats win the White House and Congress, we will be on the cusp of repairing the corrupt campaign finance system and enacting the other historic reforms in H.R. 1, including comprehensive reforms to address voter suppression, intimidation, and discrimination.
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