Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - The Money Trail of the 2024 Presidential Campaign

Episode Date: November 5, 2024

This is such a close race, and it is so close because of all of the money that has been spent by both campaigns. Today, Nicole tells you where this money comes from, and where your dollars can matter the most. Have you voted yet? If not, find where you should vote here: https://www.vote.org/polling-place-locator/

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I am not Pollyanna-ish about this. I know there's tons of room for improvement in U.S. politics. But when you think about politics in countries worldwide, you just have to count your blessings to be able to live in a country where our votes count. And I really do think that the best way to express gratitude for that is just by being part of the process. Let's just address the elephant or the donkey in the room. It is a big day. It is a tense day. And while let's be real, the election probably won't be decided tonight because results will take a while to trickle in and there's always a chance that there's going to be a recount.

Symbolically, it is a big day. The political division is intense, to say the least, across the country and even within families and in friendships. This Thanksgiving might shape up to be a tricky one for families that don't agree on politics. But I think for anyone living this divine deeply, the best antidote I've found is by channeling the high emotions into high impact action. But plot twist, that actually isn't what I'm going to be talking about today. Today, I'm going to be talking about the money trail of campaigns. This is such a close race, and it is so close because of the money that's being spent by both campaigns. So today, I'm going to tell you where all this money is coming from and where your dollars matter most.

Let's follow the numbers. The money that has been spent so far on the campaigns is mind-boggling. Harris has raised $1 billion since she replaced Biden a little over three months ago. Since January, Democrats have spent $5 billion on ads. Republicans have spent $4.1 billion on ads across political campaigns at all levels. On the presidential campaign alone, the Harris campaign has spent an estimated $1.1 billion on ads, while the Trump campaign has spent an estimated $700 million. For both parties, significant spend has been funneled into swing states. NPR reports that almost four out of every $5 spent for the presidential election has gone to the big swing states.

So we're talking Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada. And one point two billion dollars has been spent on Pennsylvania alone. Both Trump and Harris booked pricey spots during the games with Pennsylvania's two NFL teams, the Eagles and the Steelers, on Sunday and Monday nights. This wasn't just targeting geography, but gender too. Both parties have said they're trying to reach younger male voters. Nevada has also been the recipient of a lot of ad dollars too. Harris advertised on the Las Vegas Sphere, that big new circular venue that apparently charges $450,000 per day for advertising. The election cycle in 2020 was record-breaking, with over $14 billion spent on the presidential and congressional races.

As of Friday, more than $10 billion has been spent leading up to today's vote. And when all is said and done, this could be another record-breaking election. I'm sure that you had a sense of the Capitol going into this campaign because you probably have gotten a ton of texts and phone calls and emails and Instagram ads soliciting campaign contributions, right? I've been getting at least five texts per day for the last two weeks asking me to donate. Donating to political campaigns is an effective way to support a candidate. The money in these races do matter, but it is important to know the rules and to dig deep into where your money goes. Individuals can only donate $3,300 directly to presidential candidates. This rule was put into

place so that the wealthiest Americans can't have an outsized influence in political campaigns. But you have probably seen all the headlines about billionaires donating insane sums to the candidates. Bill Gates allegedly contributed 50 million bucks to the Harris campaign, while Elon Musk has donated 75 million to the Trump campaign. So how are these ultra elite getting away with not playing by the rules? Well, of course, there are cheat codes and there are loopholes. The floodgates on political spending opened after the controversial Citizens United Supreme Court ruling in 2010. That ruling basically greenlit corporations, special interest groups and the uber wealthy to make nearly unlimited financial contributions to political campaigns through PACs and mostly super PACs.

Political action committees or PACs are organizations that raise and spend money for political campaigns. PACs are organizations that raise and spend money for political campaigns. Traditional PACs can donate directly to a candidate's official campaign, but there are limits both in terms of what they can receive from individuals and also what they can give to the candidates. PACs are only permitted to contribute up to $5,000 per year to a candidate per election. But in another key Supreme Court ruling from 2010, SpeechNow.org versus the Federal Election Commission, it was decided that outside groups could accept unlimited contributions from corporations and notably individuals as long as they don't give it directly to candidates. These organizations

that sidestep contributing to candidates directly are the super PACs. The trick with the super PACs is that they can still advertise for candidates and issues so long as they independently produce the content. Citizens United also allowed nonprofits to donate to campaigns without disclosing their donors, which is concerning because who knows where this money is actually coming from. Undisclosed donors are referred to collectively as dark money increased from less than $5 million in 2006 to more than $300 million in the 2012 election cycle. The first election cycle after the Citizens United case, by the way, was decided. There are some understandable reasons why someone might want their donation to be kept private. They might not want to be involved in the political conversation or could be hiding their support from the public eye. But the concern is that some of this dark money is coming from foreign countries that have a vested interest in interfering in U.S. politics. The super PAC structure is what has allowed Elon Musk to donate over 22,000 times the individual

contribution limit in this election and totally legally. He does his campaign contributions through his group, America PAC. What might not be so legal, though, is the contest he's funding in several swing states. Musk started a petition for registered voters in seven swing states, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and of course, Pennsylvania. This petition basically calls for support of freedom of speech and gun rights, not to support any one political candidate. Musk's PAC is giving people who sign the petition $46 each, except for Pennsylvania residents who are getting $100.

Plus, each day until the election, one person will be selected randomly and given a million dollar prize. The Justice Department sent Musk a letter warning that the contest might not be legal. Obviously, that didn't stop the king of controversy. He started giving away the one million dollar prize on October 19th and will give away his last oversized check today. So that is, carry the one, 18 winners or 1818 million given to voters in swing states. I will note that the DOJ has said that the contest might be illegal. Emphasis on the might. Legal scholars are totally stumped by this one. And I'm just telling you this now, this is for sure going to the Supreme Court. First of all, the petition requires people to signify support

for free speech and the right to bear arms, not a commitment that you'll vote for Trump. So he's avoided what would be an obvious legal no-no. So what Musk is actually doing here is a little bit more nuanced. The argument that what Musk is doing is illegal is underpinned by a law that says that no one can pay someone to register to vote or to vote. But the technicality that Musk is leaning into here is that no one is being directly paid to register to vote or to vote. Because you have to be a registered voter, though, to sign the petition, it may push people to register to vote. But the payment is not for the registration itself. So voter registration may be too downstream for Musk to get any legal heat on this one. So clearly, with billions of

dollars raised for the election, it is undeniable that campaign contributions are not just lighting money on fire. The money matters. It's, yes, a little problematic, but today we're going to talk about how to make your money count in the current system as it stands. Dismantling the system? That is an issue for another day. Before donating to a super PAC, you'll want to make sure that it's legit and that your money is going where you want it to go. First, check that the super PAC is registered with the Federal Election Commission. All legal super PACs must register and regularly report their finances there. You can also look up a super PAC on their website to see its filings, which includes

details about its spending and its donors, the non-anonymous ones anyway. Checking out these filings can tell you where most of the PAC's funding comes from and how they're spending it, whether on direct political activities or operating costs. Be very wary of any super PAC that doesn't disclose much about its financials or relies heavily on dark money as it may lack transparency. But to be honest, I'd say the best way to make sure your money is going to support the candidate you're voting for is to skip the PACs and donate directly to the campaign. You can do so as long as you're donating less than $3,300, which in this economy, I think that's most likely for all of us that do not follow into the billionaire category. For today's tip, you can take straight to the bank. If you're listening to this on Tuesday morning and you haven't figured out

your voting plan yet, it's actually really easy to figure out your voting location and timing and to check to see if you're registered to vote. Just check the link in the show notes to confirm if you're registered and then you can figure out where to go. money rehab is a production of money news network i'm your host nicole lappen money rehab's executive producer is morgan laie. Our researcher is Emily Holmes. Do you need some money rehab? And let's be honest, we all do. So email us your money questions, moneyrehab at moneynewsnetwork.com to potentially have your questions answered on the show or even have a one-on-one intervention with me. And follow us on Instagram at moneynews and TikTok at moneynewsnetwork for exclusive video content. And lastly, thank you.

No, seriously, thank you. Thank you for listening and for investing in yourself, which is the most important investment you can make.