USA
Tracy Marshall | 03/16/2020

In Sunday night’s Democratic presidential debate, frontrunner Joe Biden renewed his call for eliminating private money from elections and instead having federally-funded campaigns. Candidates from both sides of the aisle are increasingly interested in having the government fund their election efforts. Here are five reasons why more government control is the wrong way to make campaigns …

USA
Tracy Marshall | 03/09/2020

Super Tuesday’s biggest loser? The narrative that money can buy an election.  From the top of the ballot to the bottom, voters proved again and again they won’t be swayed by money alone. Here are some glaring examples: The most infamous case is Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg, who spent north of $500 million yet …

USA
Tracy Marshall | 10/09/2019

Bernie Sanders’ recent heart attack may be keeping him off the campaign trail for a while, but he is still an active presence in the race for Democratic frontrunner. Just this week, he rolled out a multi-pronged plan designed to limit the influence of money in politics. State politics are Transparency Texas’ primary focus, but …

USA
Tracy Marshall | 10/02/2019

As Democratic presidential candidates begin to reveal how much money they raised last quarter, it makes sense to examine the policies they promote about raising that money. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders (and at least eight others) have advocated for expanding or mandating government-funded elections. Today, most advocates for government-funded campaigns, also called publicly funded …

USA
Transparency USA | 09/26/2019

A recent AP article questioned why several Democratic presidential candidates were spending $60 — or as much as $90, according to some campaigns — to raise one dollar. Yes, you read that right. Many Democratic presidential candidates have been spending millions on social media advertising to collect contributions as small as one dollar per donor. Surely, …