Welcome back to CBMG. Today’s post, the Crossroads Congressional Edition, breaks down all outside political spending disclosed to the FEC on 25th. The two takeaways for Tuesday: First, the two prominent Crossroads 501(c)(4) organizations - Crossroads GPS and American Crossroads - dominated the independent expenditure landscape. Disclosing over $5.5 million collectively, the two “social welfare” organizations targeted Democrat candidates in Ohio, Indiana, Nevada, Virginia and Florida Senate races and in New York’s 1st Congressional District. Second, Presidential-oriented spending comprised only 3% of the day’s disclosures.
The Roundup: $6.9 million disclosed by 20 groups attempting to influence over 20 federal elections.
The Big Spender: Crossroads GPS and American Crossroads disclosures accounted for 80% of the day’s spending. GPS spent $3.9 million and American Crossroads $1.6 million. Yesterday’s heavy spending by the Crossroads family builds off the nearly $ 20 million the two groups disclosed last week.
Cashing in: Media company darlings of pro-Republican groups, Mentzer Media and Crossroads Media, each earned $2.6 million off Tuesday’s disclosures. For curious readers, we’ve covered their IE history in previous posts, but these groups are certainly two of the brightest stars in the independent political spending media constellation. In general, despite the tens of thousands of disclosures, all of the big-ticket spending is facilitated by 10 to 15 prominent media organizations.
House or Senate? The Senate. After some spending parity yesterday, Senate spending lapped House disclosures a few times over. Groups used $5.8 million to target Senate contests and $815K for House races.
The Hotspot: Florida. The Sunshine state, with its high-profile Senate contest between Bill Nelson (D) and Connie Mack (R), attracted over $1.6 million from IE groups. Mr. Nelson was the target of 99% of the Florida cash - all spent in opposition to the Democrats efforts to retain his place in the Senate. Groups disclosed over $950K in three other states: Virginia, Ohio and Indiana.
The High Striker: The Republicans. Pro-republican groups spent more than $6 million on Tuesday compared to just $904K for left-leaning groups. Today’s High Striker Ratio - for every dollar disclosed by the Dems, the Reps spent $6.7.
Again, if you have any questions, comments or any ideas about how you’d like to see spending breakdowns in the future, get in touch! We’d love to hear from you.
Check out the disclosure summary below table to see how private money is being spent on elections near you!
