Money in Politics

In what feels like a lifetime ago, we launched season two of the Money in Politics podcast in the summer of 2020. Since then, we have spoken with record-setting fundraisers, political journalists, Joe Biden's pollster and his senior media advisor, lobbyists, opposition researchers, and those keeping an eye on both how politicians use campaign funds and corporate political giving. In today's Season 2 finale of the Money in Politics podcast, Andrew reflects on a great season and provides some r...

The issue of corporate political giving is a fairly persistent topic in campaign finance these days, but it took on renewed interest in the wake of the insurrection on Capitol Hill on January 6th. In the aftermath, corporations, ranging from Airbnb to Walmart, announced that they would be making changes to the way they dolled out their political cash. Bruce Freed is the president and co-founder of the Center for Political Accountability, a nonprofit advocacy organization that is leading...

Technology is increasingly becoming available to campaigns that want to leverage the power of data and machine learning to give them the insights necessary to win a modern campaign. By analyzing millions of data points, software is able to detect patterns and insights that campaigns can use to decide where to spend their money, how to organize their field operation, and make other critical decisions. Max Wood is the founder of Deck, a company that leverages the power of data science to help D...

The 2020 elections demonstrated, once again, that you can have all the money in the world and still not win. There are many factors that influence the outcome of an election, and while having enough money to bring your message to all of your potential voters is certainly key, the nature of your messaging and the overarching strategy behind it is equally as important as its proliferation. John Rowley is the founder of Counterpoint Messaging, a company focused on political and advocacy campaign...

A large and ever-growing piece of a campaign's budget is spent on digital advertising. While we have talked before on the podcast about the efficacy of using digital ads to fundraise, we've only scratched the surface on the other side of that digital ad spend: all the dollars that are put behind digital ads meant to persuade voters and get out the vote. Megan Clasen is the Senior Vice President of Digital at GMMB, a PR and communications firm in DC that works with candidates up and down the b...

The media plays an important role in our politics and the quantity and nature of media coverage a campaign receives can dramatically impact their ability to successfully fundraise. But that is merely one of the many ways that the media, money, and politics, all intersect. Michael Hardaway was a fundraiser on some of Barack Obama’s earliest campaigns, and is now the founder of a media startup called Hardaway Wire, which provides “intelligence briefings" to their membership on the major politic...

One of the fastest-changing landscapes in politics is digital media. Whether it is connected TV or ads on social media, there are more ways than ever to reach voters and donors. But while there are certainly some high profile examples of national campaigns leveraging digital tools to raise astronomical sums, what are the real opportunities, and limitations of digital fundraising, for everyone else? Bill Gordon is the CEO of Yosemite Consulting, a digital media trading desk and strategy firm f...

Understanding voters’ attitudes is an important part of an effective campaign. After all, if a campaign is going to spend significant sums of money to get their message out there, they need to be sure that they are crafting their message in a way that reaches and resonates with people. To that end, campaigns have long invested in polling and research. Celinda Lake is the president of Lake Research Partners and is one of the Democratic Party’s leading political strategists. She serves as a pol...

Despite its importance, the topic of opposition research often exists in the shadows. Whether, and how, campaigns choose to spend money on research can play a huge role in the outcome of an election, and unsurprisingly, money and fundraising often find themselves at the center of this in damaging ways. Carol Andrews is a nationally awarded political researcher and strategist who has spent two decades advising candidates and elected officials in every level of government. Carol joins the Money...

When people hear the phrase "money in politics," they may think about the role of dollars in campaigns. But another concept probably comes to mind: lobbying. Many associate lobbying with something sinister, such as decision-makers being paid to act on behalf of special interests. But the ability to press elected officials to influence policy outcomes is a big part of our democracy. MP Wray is the founder and owner of Top Drawer Strategies, a government and public relations firm based in Louis...