Presidential elections in the US are twice as expensive as they were just a decade ago, and so are the most competitive Congressional races. Even state and local elections now routinely see record spending – typically from “outside groups” that have no restrictions on what they can raise or spend.

The current state of money in politics is a rare point of bipartisan agreement in America. Overwhelming majorities of Republicans and Democrats think the cost of campaigns makes it hard for good people to run for office and that big donors and special interest groups have too much influence over politicians. Plus, political donors and special interest groups are more ideological than the average citizen, making political campaigns more polarized.

In this podcast episode, we explore what’s changed in the last decade to dramatically increase the flow of money in US elections. And we look at a wide range of efforts underway to address the influence of money in politics.

Guests:

David Jolly, former Republican Congressman from Florida’s 13th District (https://davidjolly.com/)

Jeff Clements, constitutional Lawyer and CEO of American Promise, sponsors of the “For Our Freedom Amendment” (https://americanpromise.net/)

Ray La Raja, professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and co-author of “Campaign Finance and Political polarization: When Purists Prevail” (https://www.fulcrum.org/concern/monographs/h702q709t)

Rene LeBeau, Democracy Voucher Program Manager for the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission (https://seattle.gov/democracyvoucher)

Alan Durning, CEO of Sightline Institute (https://www.sightline.org/)