Our new book is titled Divided We Stand: The 2020 Elections and American Politics. Among other things, it discusses state elections
The Center for Political Accountability has a report titled "Conflicted Consequences."
Publicly held U.S. corporations and their trade associations have strategically poured hundreds of millions of dollars into six large Republican and Democratic groups focused on electing governors and attorneys general and flipping control of legislative chambers. These non-profit, tax-exempt groups are called 527 organizations for the section of the Internal Revenue Code that governs them.
In this report, the Center for Political Accountability has followed the money, just as it did in its earlier Collision Course report. Focusing on groups active at the state level, we have mapped where their money came from and how much the groups received. And we have identified outcomes bankrolled by these groups. CPA is the first to undertake this research.
The money trail reveals that three Republican 527 groups targeted their political spending over the past decade from cumulative funds of more than $1.05 billion, with $485 million or almost half (45.8 percent) received from public company and trade association treasuries. This spending helped bring changes in control of state legislatures and the election of governors and attorneys general. In turn it helped drive new agendas that have transformed state and national policy. Among states where these 527s have had a major impact are North Carolina, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Oklahoma and Texas.
In contrast, the Democratic groups’ take during this period was $632 million, a little over half the amount received by the Republican groups. Democrats early in the decade lost significant representation in elected offices at the state level.
The six are:
- RGA: Republican Governors Association
- DGA: Democratic Governors Association
- RAGA: Republican Attorneys General Association
- DAGA: Democratic Attorneys General Association
- RSLC: Republican State Leadership Committee
- DLCC: Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee
