More than $200 million was spent in the race between John James and Gary Peters, easily making in the most expensive single election in Michigan's history.
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posted on 03/03/2021
Nine districts attracted a total of more than $1 million in contributions — the most ever. In all but seven of the 110 districts the candidate with the most money won.
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posted on 12/30/2020
Vague FEC rules and a 2014 supreme court decision meant campaigns could use Michigan’s state parties to bypass contribution limits and spend unlimited amounts on political mail with campaigns' tailored messages.
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posted on 12/02/2020
Ads on broadcast television, radio and cable in Michigan, by themselves, eclipsed the total spending of the 2018 election.
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posted on 11/03/2020
At least $15 million will be spent advertising in Michigan's state House races, outpacing 2018 — both chambers included. Explore a district-by-district breakdown.
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posted on 10/30/2020
Outside groups have outspent than the candidates for both major parties as the ideological lean of the court hangs in the balance.
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posted on 10/28/2020
"Election season" or not, advertising spending in Michigan has increased explosively in the runup to in-person voting. And it’s not because Michiganders are generously contributing to their preferred candidates. Outside groups and dark money organizations are outspending campaigns two-to-one.
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posted on 10/21/2020
Talking points and footage left available by campaigns turns making political ads into paint-by-numbers for dark money groups.
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posted on 10/16/2020
More than $50 million from more than 40 outside groups paired with record spending on advertising is driving the race for U.S. Senate to be the most expensive Michigan has seen.
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posted on 10/01/2020
Spending records are already being shattered in the 2020 election with more than a month to the election, and a super PAC has emerged to support Democrats in key state house races.
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posted on 09/25/2020
This fall, Michigan Campaign Finance Network ans MLive are partnering to follow the money behind campaign mail around the state
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posted on 09/14/2020
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.
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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.
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posted on 05/10/2020
Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, the two leading progressives in the race, have also begun advertising on Michigan airwaves.
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posted on 02/24/2020
Use our infographic to examine the funding sources of every House candidate.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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posted on 04/16/2019
