More than $1-million was raised and spent in seven state House races last year. Three of those were in Southwest Michigan. Michigan Campaign Finance Network Director says it’s part of the growing amount of money in state elections.
Mauger says his organization examines “Three buckets of spending and fundraising.” He says that includes money spent and raised by the candidate’s campaign, independent money spent on behalf of candidates, and spending not reported to the state, on TV ads. The ads don’t tell the audience directly who to vote for. Mauger says that’s a growing source of campaign spending. He says it can only be tracked by television stations disclosures to the federal government.
Mauger says there has been an increase in money raised and spent over several election cycles. He says in 2016 there was $27-million spent in primaries and the general election, an increase of $1.6-milion compared to 2014. Mauger says some of that increase can be explained by the 2016 ballot, which did not include a campaign for governor or other statewide offices, and no U.S. Senate race. But he says the total for 2012, a similar election cycle was 24.3-million.
Seven Figure Races in Southwest Michigan
Republican Brandt Iden won re-election in the 61st district, which includes Portage. Iden’s race against Democrat John Fisher was the second most expensive in the state. Mauger says the spending records show that Republican forces expected a close race. He says the final vote totals shows their polling was probably right.
Democrat Annie Brown raised more money in the 66th state House District than Republican Beth Griffin. But Griffin won the race in Van Buren County. Mauger says usually the candidate with the most money on their side wins. But he says most exceptions are when the party out of power tries to defeat party which held the seat previously. The 66th district had been represented by Aric Nesbitt, who could not run in 2016 because of term limits.
The 62nd state House district saw nearly equal spending on both sides. Republican John Bizon won re-election in one of the closest races in the state. Mauger says the seat will probably continue to attract a lot of campaign contributions in years to come.
Still Unknown
Mauger says it remains unknown who funded dark money mailers and television ads that tried to influence elections. He says there is no effective way to track the funding of direct mail, robo calls and other political advertising if they don’t include the magic words “vote for” a candidate.
