Campaign Finance Story Archives - Page 3 of 5 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

State Senate Votes for Higher Campaign Donations

West Virginia’s Senate has voted to raise the campaign contribution limit from $1,000 to $2,700 to a candidate in a primary or general election and revise other provisions in state election law.

The bill approved 21-12 now goes to the House for consideration.

Sen. Corey Palumbo and some other legislators in the Senate’s Democratic minority say the changes will increase the influence of the rich on West Virginia politics, effectively raising the donation limit in a campaign cycle to $5,400.

Sen. Robert Karnes, an Upshur County Republican, says it should actually reduce the influence of so-called “dark money” from independent expenditure groups by letting West Virginians donate more money that’s publicly reported.

Karnes says it takes $75,000 to $300,000 to run a state legislative campaign.

Justice Campaign Spends $5M in Governor's Race

Updated campaign finance reports show West Virginia Gov.-elect Jim Justice spent $5.1 million in his mostly self-funded winning campaign as a Democrat.

Justice, owner of coal mines, the Greenbrier resort and other businesses, defeated Republican Bill Cole.

Reports show Cole’s campaign spent $2.8 million and got another $3.7 million in support from the national Republican governors’ association that bought television ads attacking Justice.

Post-election records show Justice received $1.6 million from campaign donors while personally lending his campaign $3.8 million.

Another $72,000 for in-kind expenses is attributed to the Greenbrier, where Justice hosted an election-night celebration.

Cole’s campaign records show the Senate president and owner of car dealerships received $2.3 million in donations and loaned his effort $625,000.

Cole will leave the Senate post in January.

Challengers' Finances Trail West Virginia Congressmen

New campaign filings show West Virginia’s three Republican incumbents with far more money than Democratic challengers in their campaign accounts.

Filings show Rep. David McKinley’s campaign received almost $241,000 from July through September, spent more than $157,000 and still had $705,000 on hand.

His challenger Mike Manypenny reports raising almost $8,000 and spending slightly more than that with a deficit of about $7,400.

Reports show Rep. Alex Mooney raised more than $191,000 and spent almost $140,000 with about $527,000 left in his campaign fund.

Challenger Mark Hunt reports raising about $231,000 and spending almost $125,000 with about $155,000 on hand.

Rep. Evan Jenkins reports about $199,000 raised and almost $120,000 spent with nearly $712,000 left.

Challenger Matt Detch’s campaign shows $40 raised, nothing spent and almost $10,500 on hand.

W.Va. Justices Are a Hot Commodity for Outside Spenders

Out-of-state and dark money spenders (campaign contributions from nonprofits and super PACs that don’t have to disclose the sources of their funding) are contributing more money to judicial elections than they have in previous years.

The Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy institute at New York University, is worried that this money will influence the 27 out of the 38 states using a judicial election system for their high courts have positions up for election this November.

West Virginia had its election for state Supreme Court justice this past spring. Though the state has regulations in place limiting donors’ influence in the courtroom, out-of-state and dark money spenders still poured almost $3 million into that one election.

Though dark money sources can only spend a limited amount of money on a candidate, they can spend an unlimited amount on television advertisements. That’s why West Virginians may have noticed a high amount of negative advertising in May.

“We saw about 3 million dollars of spending by outside groups, much of it coming from the Republican State Leadership Committee which is a national group that spends money around the country in different kinds of elections, including judicial races,” said Alicia Bannon, senior counsel in the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. “And I think their involvement has been interesting because they have been spending in races all over the country.”

Elections nationwide saw a spike in outside spending and dark money contributions to downstream elections after the U.S Supreme Court ruled in the 2010 case Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission that under the first amendment, it would be unconstitutional to prevent corporations or unions from contributing financially to campaigns.

Notes: 1) In 2004, former Massey Energy chairman and CEO Don Blankenship contributed $3 million to Brent Benjamin’s campaign. 2) This chart has been updated to reflect that the data represents total noncandidate spending. The 2016 figure has also been updated.

But judicial elections aren’t the only targets of outside spending in the state. In the 2014 midterm elections, candidates received an unprecedented amount of dark money campaign contributions, causing some Democratic leaders to accuse Republicans of buying the election that ultimately ended more than 80 years of Democratic reign in the House and Senate.

But the consequences of dark money’s impact is especially apparent in judicial elections. Studies show that judges’ decisions are influenced by campaign contributions. For example, then West Virginia Justice Brent Benjamin received $3 million in campaign contributions from former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship in the 2004 elections. When Blankenship went to trial for his role in the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, Benjamin refused to recuse himself from the case and voted in favor of the defendant Massey Energy. His refusal was later ruled by the U.S. Supreme Court as a violation of due process of law.

“In the end, we need to trust that judges are going to be able to make decisions based on the law, and not worrying about where they’re going to get money for the next election, not worry about what the next attack ad will be like,” Bannon said. “I think what we’ve been seeing is that these races are becoming more politicized. The public can reasonably ask questions – are our judges going to be reasonably insulated from the rough and tumble of politics to do their jobs as judges?”

In the meantime, Americans across the country, including West Virginia, can expect to hear more negative campaigning funded by dark money sources – until they turn out to cast their votes on Election Day.

Outside Groups Outspend 5 W.Va. High Court Hopefuls

In a crowded West Virginia Supreme Court contest, third-party groups are outspending the five candidates.Campaign finance reports show that outside groups…

In a crowded West Virginia Supreme Court contest, third-party groups are outspending the five candidates.

Campaign finance reports show that outside groups have spent $1.8 million, while candidates have spent $1.6 million combined through late April.

The Republican State Leadership Committee has bought $1.4 million in ads attacking Darrell McGraw and Bill Wooton, and supporting Beth Walker.

Just Courts for West Virginia PAC, a trial lawyers group, has spent $229,000 in ads attacking Walker.

Walker has spent $530,400 after receiving $500,000 in loans from her husband and raising $200,000.

Incumbent Justice Brent Benjamin has spent $481,300 and Wooton has spent $530,000. Both are using public campaign financing.

McGraw has spent $8,100 after raising $72,200. Wayne King has spent about $15,000.

The race is nonpartisan and will be decided on May 10.

Which Presidential Candidate is Raising the Most Money in West Virginia and Where?

As West Virginia moves toward the May 10 primary, thousands of West Virginians are opening up their wallets and shelling out some major cash for the presidential hopefuls.

But, in terms of dollars, which candidate is winning West Virginia? We look to the latest filings with the Federal Election Commission for the answer.

The Strongholds for Each Candidate

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has seen the highest total number of donations at $170,663. Clinton donations are largely concentrated in the Charleston area and in the Eastern Panhandle. But, she has statewide appeal with donations also coming in from the Morgantown area, the southern coalfields, the Mid-Ohio Valley and the Northern Panhandle.

While Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has seen small donations pouring in from across the state, his financial support is centered in the Morgantown and Wheeling areas. A fundraising event in early April benefited the senator, who did make an appearance. Attended by an estimated 600 people, the event was reportedly sponsored by Robert Murray of Murray Energy.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ donations are spread throughout virtually every part of the state and included a high number of small dollar gifts. Many of his 3,489 donations are for $27, a number he’s touted as the average donation he’s received nationally. His biggest draw is in the Morgantown area, Charleston, the Eastern Panhandle and Huntington.

Ohio Governor John Kasich’s fundraising support not surprisingly is concentrated in parts of West Virginia that touch his home state. West Virginians in Weirton, Mineral Wells and Huntington have pledged their dollars to the governor with pockets of donors in Baker, Summersville and Philippi.

Often referred to as the candidate most likely to take West Virginia in the primary, billionaire businessman Donald Trump’s few donations thus far–37 from 27 contributors–is mostly concentrated in the state’s southern coalfields.

Hover your mouse over an area to see how much money each candidate raised in each zip code. For a deeper look at the presidential candidates’ fundraising in the state, search the map by city or zip code. You can also filter data by candidate by using the drop-down menu on the top right of the dashboard.

Does Any of This Matter?

A candidate’s ability to fundraise often says a lot about how people in a state view them, but does that really equate to votes? Kyle Kondik with the University of Virginia Center for Politics says that may not necessarily be the case this election season.

“Trump has broken a lot of rules this primary race, one of which is that candidate fundraising is typically important for candidates to win,” said Kondik.

If you look at FEC filings, its clear Trump has raised significantly less than his Republican rival, $12 million compared to Cruz’s $78 million, but Kondik points to Trump’s use of “free media,” i.e. television appearances, and his already existent name recognition as reasons that Trump has been able to win while running a campaign “on the cheap.”

“He has been able to win many state and many delegates despite not spending much on television [ads],” Kondik said. “It’s a strategy that other candidates probably would have a hard time replicating.”

As for the Sanders’ camp being able to raise from such a wide swath of West Virginia, Kondik says it points back to the candidate’s reliance on small-donor funding.

“I don’t think the sources of money have much to do with where a candidate does well or does not do well,” he added.