The election is just seven weeks away — but former President Donald Trump is still, so far, keeping his cash mostly to himself.
Major super PACs and party committees disclosed their August finances in a new round of campaign finance reports Tuesday, with some eye-catching results. The filings revealed that Trump’s leadership PAC was still sitting on nearly $100 million at the end of last month. And save for a contribution to a group that helped defeat Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) in her primary, the PAC did not contribute anything to the battle for Congress, even amid fundraising struggles for some GOP candidates in notable races.
The filings also divulged the sources behind some last-second meddling in late primaries, and they revealed more information about who big donors are eyeing in the still-unofficial battle for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
Here are four big takeaways from this week’s reporting deadline for super PACs and committees, before candidates unload their campaign finance filings next month:
Primary meddling revealed
Super PACs from both parties dove into the final round of primary contests to boost their preferred nominees in key congressional races. In one case, it was a Democratic group boosting its preferred opponent. But the funding behind these efforts was a mystery — until this week.
House Majority PAC, Democrats’ flagship House super PAC, funded a group that jumped into the Sept. 13 GOP contest to challenge Rep. Annie Kuster (D-N.H.). The super PAC made a $125,000 contribution on Aug. 25 to Democrats Serve, another super PAC that backs Democrats with public service backgrounds. That group ran nearly $570,000 in TV ads boosting Bob Burns, a far-right Republican who opposes abortion rights, over moderate GOP Mayor George Hansel, who was backed by Republican Gov. Chris Sununu.
House Majority PAC only had to disclose contributions made during the month of August on this reporting deadline, so it’s possible the super PAC seeded Democrats Serve with even more money in early September. Another connection to the race: Abby Curran Horrell, House Majority PAC’s executive director, was previously a top aide to Kuster.
Meanwhile, a GOP group that played in New Hampshire in favor of Hansel, American Liberty Action PAC, received funding from two lesser-known groups on the right that have been active in 2022 primaries.
American Liberty Action PAC got $1.6 million from the Eighteen Fifty Four Fund, a group formed by Kevin McLaughlin, a former National Republican Senatorial Committee executive director, that has tried to stymie far-right candidates in GOP primaries. American Liberty Action PAC also nabbed a $2.6 million transfer from American Prosperity Alliance, a group incorporated in May that lists Parker Poling, the 2020 National Republican Congressional Committee executive director, as a member of its board, according to OpenSecrets.
American Liberty Action PAC also spent in August GOP …read more