An array of out-of-state nonprofits, funded by some of the same organizations that capitalized on the Tea Party movement, are creating an ecosystem of alternative media online, delivering political reporting, grassroots organizing, advocacy and even satire to Michiganders through Facebook. Now they're harnessing resentment toward the state's stay-at-home order. read more

posted on 05/15/2020

A single liberal super PAC, Priorities USA Action, is spending $17.3 million to run ads every week until the general election. read more

posted on 05/10/2020

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, the two leading progressives in the race, have also begun advertising on Michigan airwaves. read more

posted on 02/24/2020

Use our infographic to examine the funding sources of every House candidate. read more

posted on 02/06/2020

Over the last decade alone, Michigan has seen a striking shift on the subject of abortion: The number of Right to Life-backed Democrats running for state office has plummeted; and the groups funding the fight are providing less information about where their money is coming from. read more

posted on 09/09/2019

About 66 percent of the money that Michigan’s 148 state lawmakers have reported raising for their campaigns so far this year has come from political action committees (PACs), fundraising committees connected to businesses, unions, politicians and other interest groups that aim to influence what happens in Lansing. Only about 28 percent has come directly from individual donors. read more

posted on 08/22/2019

Michigan's top 150 political action committees raised more money over the first seven months of 2019 than they did over the same period before the record 2018 election, according to new campaign finance disclosures. Increased fundraising by committees connected to state lawmakers helped spur the high-dollar total. read more

posted on 08/05/2019

Ten state lawmakers have already raised at least $100,000 across their campaign committees and personal political action committees, according to a review of new fundraising disclosures. The contributions have tended to follow power as the top fundraisers have been the leaders of the Michigan House and Michigan Senate. read more

posted on 07/29/2019

In 2017, the U.S. House member from Michigan who raised the most money from the beginning of April through the end of June collected $360,342. Over the same period in 2019, three of Michigan's U.S. House members raised more than that. Two doubled the total, raising more than $730,000 each. read more

posted on 07/16/2019

Over the first months of 2019, the 150 top political action committees in Michigan reported raising a combined total of $8.1 million, an increase over the same time period before the 2018 election. Michigan’s four caucus committees, which spend money on races for the state Legislature, were the primary forces behind the fundraising jump, disclosures show. read more

posted on 04/30/2019

Ten state lawmakers raised more than $30,000 through their own political action committees over the first months of 2019, according to new campaign finance disclosures. Individual contributors gave as much as $40,000 to the leadership PACs, a growing form of fundraising in Michigan. read more

posted on 04/30/2019

This spreadsheet lists the 150 political action committees (PACs) in Michigan that reported raising the most money from Jan. 1, 2019 through April 20, 2019. They had to file reports on their fundraising over that time period by April 25, 2019. read more

posted on 04/30/2019

After the most expensive U.S. House races in Michigan history in 2018, the winners have already set out on a fast fundraising pace for 2020. On average, the 14 lawmakers’ campaigns brought in about $36,262 per day over the first three months of the year, according to the disclosures. read more

posted on 04/16/2019