Why, the party that has spent decades denouncing private contributions to political campaigns, of course.
The Center for Responsive Politics reported on its website, OpenSecrets.org, “The total cost of the 2020 election will nearly reach an unprecedented $14 billion, making it the most expensive election in history and twice as expensive as the previous presidential election cycle.”
Wait, isn’t the country struggling financially? That’s why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was holding out for at least $2.2 trillion in additional “stimulus” spending, while those heartless Republicans insisted on keeping the cost below $1 trillion.
But according to the Center, “Even amid a pandemic, everyone is giving more in 2020, from ordinary individuals making small donations to billionaires cutting eight-figure checks to super PACs. Women are smashing donation records, and Americans are increasingly donating to candidates who aren’t running for office in their state.”
And we certainly saw plenty of examples of that out-of-state money.
Take the Georgia Senate race between incumbent Republican David Perdue and Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff. According to the Center, Perdue raised $21.1 million while Ossoff raked in $32.3 million—for one Senate race! And that was as of October 14. No doubt more poured in the last two weeks of the race.
But such spending was reflective of the presidential race, as well as many races around the country.
Democratic candidates and groups spent $6.9 billion on the 2020 election, as compared to Republicans’ $3.8 billion—nearly twice as much.
The Center points out that “Democrats’ spending falls to $5.5 billion when excluding spending by billionaire presidential candidates Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer.”
And that $1.4 billion from Bloomberg and Steyer was reported, no doubt some wealthy people and well-funded organizations handed over money or in-kind contributions that weren’t reported—by design.
And it’s not over yet. The two Georgia Senate runoff elections will likely attract millions of additional dollars—because control of the U.S. Senate is at stake. It was just announced that Republican heavyweight Karl Rove will oversee fundraising for the Georgia runoffs.
Now, spending billions of dollars in important election cycles is understandable, given the power and control over our lives and pocketbooks the federal and state governments now have. And the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that campaign contributions are allowable under the First Amendment’s free speech protections.
But there is no shortage of hypocrisy when Democrats, echoed by the media, habitually decry the money spent on political campaigns and regularly introduce legislation to limit or end private political contributions, and then turn around and blow out all spending records.
And not a word of complaint from Democrats or the media about the billions of dollars being spent.
November 17, 2020