"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. read more

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. read more

posted on 10/16/2020

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. read more

posted on 09/25/2020

Bloomberg has spent about $6.6 million in the last eight weeks running ads. In 2020 they have represented 79% of all political advertisements on air. read more

posted on 01/17/2020

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

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

Thanks in part to two extremely expensive races, the primary and general election contests for Michigan’s 14 seats in the U.S. House attracted about $80 million, according to candidate fundraising disclosures, independent-spending reports by groups and an analysis of TV advertising data from Kantar Media/CMAG. The 2018 total is double what the same races attracted in 2016: $40 million. read more

posted on 01/22/2019

Michigan's 2018 elections have become the most expensive in state history. MCFN has now tracked about $291 million in the 2018 races, and the total is far from complete. The total will increase as more fundraising and spending disclosures become available in the next months. The 2018 elections break a record that's stood since 2012. read more

posted on 11/13/2018

New fundraising disclosures show that Michigan's 2018 U.S. House races are attracting more money than they did before past elections. Among the 2018 races is a contest in the 8th Congressional District, which has already drawn about $16.5 million, a record amount for a U.S. House race in Michigan. read more

posted on 10/16/2018

The men and women who want to represent Michigan in the U.S. House have already raised about $22 million for their 2018 campaigns, according to new campaign finance disclosures. In most of the state's battleground districts, the candidates’ total fundraising hauls are higher so far in 2018 than they were at the same point in 2016. read more

posted on 04/17/2018

According to new campaign finance disclosures, Michigan's U.S. House candidates have already collected about $14.7 million. Three candidates have individually raised more than $1 million each. Thirty candidates have raised more than $100,000 each. read more

posted on 02/13/2018

A representative who may run for the Senate and two candidates who could square off in one of Michigan’s most competitive House districts are receiving heavy support from political donors, according to new campaign finance disclosures. read more

posted on 10/17/2017

With their eyes on 2018, Michigan’s 14 U.S. representatives reported raising $1.62 million over the first three months of 2017, according to campaign finance disclosures due over the weekend. Of that $1.62 million, $1.07 million, about 66 percent, came from political committees, which are usually political action committees (PACs) representing interest groups. read more

posted on 04/19/2017