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posted on 08/31/2021

The cost of Michigan's state legislative elections have been increasing for years. But even this increase is unprecedented. Thank party spending and the outside money that inundated the state's few competitive districts. read more

posted on 08/31/2021

A husband and wife duo held two of the highest-paying jobs as policy staff in the Michigan House. At the same time, their political consulting firm took in hundreds of thousands of dollars from members of the Republican caucus they helped oversee. read more

posted on 12/30/2020

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. read more

posted on 12/30/2020

Republicans have maintained a cash advantage heading into election day, despite Democratic candidates out-raising their GOP counterparts, in part through a new source of funding: small-dollar donations from outside Michigan. read more

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. read more

posted on 10/30/2020

While lobbyists' overall spending on food for state officials is less than half of what it was last year, the expensive meals that require disclosure are only down slightly. read more

posted on 09/16/2020

The finances that matter in tonight's House Primary, shown in three infographics. read more

posted on 08/04/2020

New disclosures reveal how the shutdown dropped donations to legislators. But people didn’t stop giving to candidates. Special interests did. read more

posted on 07/31/2020

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

posted on 02/06/2020

So far in 2019, a small group of influential state lawmakers has been consuming larger than normal amounts of free food and drink purchased by lobbyists. Those lobbyists spent more than $4,000 on meals and beverages for three individual lawmakers over the first seven months of 2019, according to new disclosures. read more

posted on 09/11/2019

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

Candidates for the Michigan House and Senate with the most financial support didn't win every race this year, but they won a lot of them. According to a new analysis, candidates with a financial advantage won 89.2 percent of the races for the Michigan Legislature. The 2018 percentage is very close to the percentage for 2016. read more

posted on 11/20/2018

Nearly $9 million in TV ads about candidates for the Michigan Legislature have already aired this fall or will air in the coming days, according to an analysis of ad-tracking data and public records. The ads are a large part of the expensive fight to decide which party will control the House and Senate. read more

posted on 10/25/2018

The campaign for majorities in the Michigan House and Senate is playing out on TV screens across the state this fall. The ads will intensify as Election Day nears. But already, MCFN has tracked more than $4 million in broadcast and cable TV ads focused on candidates for the Legislature. A majority of the money has gone to ads aired in races in Southeast Michigan. read more

posted on 10/12/2018

The four committees that raise money on behalf of the House Republicans, House Democrats, Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats reported having $10.0 million available as of April 20, according to new campaign finance disclosures. That total is a record, and it's millions of dollars above where they were at the same point in 2014. read more

posted on 04/27/2018

The main fundraising committees of the House Republicans, the House Democrats, the Senate Republicans and the Senate Democrats combined to raise $3.1 million in 2017 as of July 20, according to campaign finance disclosures due today. Over the last decade, the four committees had previously never combined to raise more than $3 million as of July 20 in the year before the election year. read more

posted on 07/25/2017

The 2016 fight for control of the Michigan House of Representatives is the most expensive in the state’s history, according to disclosures. Donors, political parties and outside groups poured at least $27.0 million into House races for 2016, according to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network’s tracking. read more

posted on 02/10/2017