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Whether it's analyzing campaign contributions by gender or looking closely at the drop in spending on federal lobbying, OpenSecrets.org sometimes takes a deep dive into an important money-and-politics subject.
Analysis Shows Amplification of Small Donors Under New NY State Public Financing Program
2023
Elections
Published on January 30, 2023
In November, New York launched an innovative public campaign finance program for statewide and state legislative candidates. The new analysis shows the program's potential to transform the political landscape by enabling candidates to rely more on small-dollar contributions from constituents and less on big donors and special interests while still raising competitive sums. [Read more]
State Lobbying Disclosure: A Scorecard
2022
Lobbying
Published on June 28, 2022
In 2021, OpenSecrets tracked over $1.8 billion in lobbying spending at the state level — a substantial sum of money spent at state capitals across the country in an effort to influence policy and legislation. But this only represents a portion of the total amount spent in the state level lobbying arena since many states' disclosure laws do not require a full accounting of the money spent to influence legislators and executives, preventing the public from knowing the full extent of this spending. [Read more]
Layers of Lobbying: An examination of 2021 state and federal lobbying from K Street to Main Street
2022
Lobbying
Published on June 22, 2022
OpenSecrets' new analysis of 2021 lobbying expenditure data shows that many of the same organizations are working across federal and state levels of government to impact public policy on similar issues. [Read more]
Layers of Lobbying: Federal and state lobbying trends in spending, representation and messaging
2022
Lobbying
Published on June 02, 2022
OpenSecrets' first broad examination of federal and state lobbying illustrates how big organizations are spending millions of dollars to impact similar issues crossing state and federal policy-making using consistent messaging, and that they are generally spending more as the years pass. [Read more]
Capitalizing on Conflict: How U.S. arm sales fuel the humanitarian crisis in Yemen
2022
Defense
Published on April 14, 2022
U.S. weapons manufacturers fueling the crisis in Yemen spend big money on lobbying but make even more selling arms. [Read more]
Sunshine Week: Shining a light on money in politics across the nation
2022
Transparency
Published on March 14, 2022
This series highlights OpenSecrets' work to improve transparency around key areas related to money in politics at the state and federal level. [Read more]
Which Women Can Run? The Fundraising Gap in the 2020 Elections' Competitive Primaries
2021
Gender/Race
Published on June 09, 2021
Campaign finance remains a barrier of entry for many women, especially in primary elections. OpenSecrets examines the variables that create barriers early on for women. [Read more]
Capitalizing on Conflict
2021
Defense
Published on February 25, 2021
Over the last two decades, the extensive network of lobbyists and donors tied to the defense industry directed $285 million in campaign contributions and $2.5 billion in lobbying spending as they pushed the government to approve tens of billions in arms sales. [Read more]
Joint report examines the women who ran, won and donated in 2020
2020
Gender/Race
Published on December 21, 2020
Women broke barriers in the 2020 elections, both at the ballot box and as political donors. [Read more]
Joint report reveals record donations in 2020 state and federal races
2020
Elections
Published on November 19, 2020
While donations at both the federal and state levels broke records, the increase in money to candidates for Congress and the presidency was far larger. [Read more]
Familiar faces lobbied Trump and congressional leaders on COVID-19
2020
Lobbying
Published on August 19, 2020
Powerful interests deployed former aides to President Donald Trump and top congressional leaders to influence the federal government's response to the coronavirus pandemic. [Read more]
Racial and gender diversity in the 117th Congress
2020
Gender/Race
Published on June 30, 2020
The field of candidates running for office in 2020 is the most diverse in recent history, but OpenSecrets found that the 117th Congress will be, at most, only marginally more diverse than the 116th. [Read more]
Tracking the Personal Finances of the 116th Congress
2020
Personal Finance
Published on June 11, 2020
Written after OpenSecrets broke the news of Sen. Richard Burr's controversial stock sales, this series explores the personal finances of the 116th Congress. OpenSecrets has updated its personal finaces section to include lawmakers' most recent financial disclosures. [Read more]
Suburban women could decide 2020: Who are they giving to?
2019
Gender/Race
Published on November 06, 2019
Women are becoming politically engaged at an earlier point than ever before. More than 1 million women have donated to 2020 presidential candidates thus far, following the rise of fundraising participation by women in the wake of President Donald Trump's election. [Read more]
Shadow lobbying' in Trump's Washington
2019
Lobbying
Published on October 03, 2019
Political operatives and lobbyists continue to take spins through the revolving door between government and the private sector under President Donald Trump's watch, despite his pledge to "drain the swamp." [Read more]
World of Influence: A Guide to Trump's Foreign Business Interests
2019
Foreign Influence
Published on June 04, 2019
The Center for Responsive Politics created an in-depth report exploring President Donald Trump's international business interests and entanglements in over 30 countries across the globe. Trump's sprawling web of foreign properties and investments, which includes some projects completed during his presidency or still under development, reveals a litany of opportunities for — and apparent efforts by — foreign business leaders and governments to gain influence with the leader of the free world. [Read more]
State of Money in Politics
2019
Elections
Published on February 22, 2019
Following an in-depth report exploring the most expensive midterm election ever, this four-part series explores the high price to win elections, surprising shifts among major industries, a new "dark money" milestone and the power of the female donor. [Read more]
Women March onto the Ballot in 2018
2018
Gender/Race
Published on March 06, 2018
In our new report on women in politics, we document donations by women in the most recent election cycles and show a major increase in the number of female candidates seeking to serve in Congress. [Read more]
Out of the swamp... or into the shadows?
2017
Lobbying
Published on June 28, 2017
People change jobs all the time, but what does that mean in the lobbying world? Our research found that nearly a third of the lobbyists who stayed at the same organization, but did not report any lobbying activity in the first quarter, have titles that indicate they are still working on influencing U.S. federal policy. Was the swamp drained, or are they simply trying to circumvent the rules? [Read more]
Personal wealth: a nation of extremes, and a Congress, too
2015
Personal Finance
Published on November 17, 2015
Wealth inequality in the United States is pervasive — so much so that it's apparent even in Congress. The House and Senate have their own form of inequality within their ranks. Of the 534 current members, the 53 richest owned nearly 80 percent of the estimated wealth held by all federal lawmakers in 2014, a Center for Responsive Politics analysis shows. That concentration resembles the inequality that exists in the United States more broadly, where 76 percent of the country's wealth is held by the top 10 percent of households. [Read more]
McCutcheon v. FEC
2014
Money-in-Politics
Published on April 03, 2014
The April 2014 Supreme Court decision in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission removed aggregate limits for individual donors giving to candidates, political parties and PACs. There are still limits on how much any individual may give to each of those committees. No longer, though, is there an overall cap on how much one person can give to these committees combined in an election cycle; the last such limit, which was in place until the court's ruling, was $123,200. [Read more]
Waning Influence: the rise of the "unlobbyist."
2014
Lobbying
Published on March 18, 2014
Through extensive research, we tracked the post-lobbying career paths of almost 1,800 registered, previously active lobbyists and found a similar pattern: Nearly half of them continued to work for the same companies. [Read more]
Sex, Money & Politics
2013
Gender/Race
Published on September 26, 2013
The 2012 congressional elections saw a record number of women elected to both the House and Senate. And even though most of his large campaign donations came from men, Barack Obama relied more heavily on female campaign contributors than any general election presidential candidate since at least 1988. [Read more]
Back-to-College Special: Academic Contributions Aren't Just Cerebral
2013
Money-in-Politics
Published on August 29, 2013
Overall, individual contributions from the education sector have been on the rise for years. During the 2012 cycle, contributions from the sector totaled $64.7 million. That's a 323 percent increase over 2000, when the total was just $15.3 million. [Read more]
Lobbyists 2012: Out of the Game or Under the Radar?
2013
Lobbying
Published on March 20, 2013
Over the past several years, both spending on lobbying and the number of active lobbyists has declined. A number of factors may be responsible, including the lackluster economy, a gridlocked Congress and changes in lobbying rules. [Read more]
Shadow Money Trail
2013
Dark Money
Published on November 21, 2013
OpenSecrets News's exclusive series about the funding behind politically active nonprofit organizations that do not publicly disclose their donors. [Read more]
Shadow Money Magic
2014
Dark Money
Published on April 22, 2014
During the 2010 and 2012 elections, dozens of groups pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into the electoral system while dodging the disclosure requirements that apply to almost all other organizations that support or oppose political candidates. [Read more]
More money, less transparency: A decade under Citizens United
2020
Money-in-Politics
Published on January 14, 2020
The proliferation of controversial political advertisements in the past decade isn't a coincidence. It's a direct result of the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling, which helped pump billions of dollars into politics from outside sources that are supposed to be untethered from candidates or political parties. [Read more]
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