[Special Edition] Where does campaign money come from in the United States?

Audio 09:49

By: Francophone public radios

Why are American election campaigns so costly? Where does all this money come from? Whether it is presidential campaigns or campaigns for Congress, they are taking longer and longer and therefore demanding larger and larger budgets. The origin of these funds has become one of the main issues of the elections. 

Publicity

In 2010, the Supreme Court handed down a verdict that opened the floodgates of money in politics. In the United States, each election campaign today requires a growing budget to deploy field teams in states, produce advertisements and travel. 

The amounts swallowed up in American election campaigns are astronomical. For his re-election in 2012, Barack Obama was the first candidate to raise more than $ 1 billion. In 2020, the total, all candidates combined, already exceeds $ 2.5 billion.

Campaigns are also taking longer and longer: at least a year and a half. These factors therefore make finances a central issue in elections in the United States.

The same goes for parliamentarians, who are estimated to spend two-thirds of their time raising funds for their re-elections.

Jordan Davis and Eric Guevara-Frey take you along the tortuous and sometimes obscure paths of financing American politics.

References cited in the episode:  

In this episode, reporters refer to the Citizen United case, a 2010 Supreme Court verdict that opened the floodgates for money in politics. He shattered the political spending limits imposed on companies, unions and other associations. The judges ruled that these constraints violated the freedom of expression guaranteed by the First Amendment.

How do we know where the money for US election campaigns comes from? The Center for Responsive Politics is a non-profit organization that tracks the use of money in politics. He also takes care of working to find out the origins and donors of what experts call dark money, funds that donors do not know. 

What is a Political Action Committee (PAC), and what is its role in this presidential campaign? These are interest groups, which can spend unlimited amounts to support a candidate. During the current campaign, a new CAP has emerged:the Lincoln Project . Its particularity: it raises funds to finance the campaign of Joe Biden. Yet this group is made up entirely of Republicans.  

Credits:

Washington d'Ici is an original podcast produced by correspondents for French-speaking public radio stations in Washington.

Listen to and Subscribe to Washington from Here on Apple Podcast

Newsletter Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

• United States
• USA Elections 2020