Needless to say, there was a lot of news on the money-and-politics beat this week.
The Billionaire Winners And Losers Of The 2022 Midterm Election
“Billionaires may be considered paragons of success, but they aren’t all wise investors—especially when it comes to politics. After all, three vied for the presidency in 2020, and none of them ended up in the White House. This year, many of the nation’s tycoons poured hundreds of millions into the battle for Congress, as well as state and local races. It’s still too soon to know exactly how all those bets will turn out, but here are some early winners and losers,” reports Dan Alexander.
Democratic megadonor George Soros and one of his groups routed $13 million into a super-PAC supporting Democrats running for the Senate. That super-PAC’s spending in Pennsylvania paid off, as John Fetterman defeated Mehmet Oz in a critical race.
Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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In Case You Missed It
Ahead Of His Crypto Firm’s Cash Crunch, Billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried Spent Tens Of Millions On Politics
“Crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried burst onto the political giving scene this election cycle, becoming the second largest billionaire donor to Democratic causes. Altogether he gave $39.9 million, including $35 million to three different political action committees. Two of his deputies at FTX, his cryptocurrency exchange–gave nearly $29 million more. But that giving looks awfully profligate now,” reports Matt Durot.
The $69 million spent by Bankman-Fried and his deputies on the 2022 midterms likely would’ve done little to plug FTX’s reported financial hole, but it couldn’t have hurt. Bankman-Fried told Forbes last month that “in the end, I care about policy more than politics,” adding that “my giving has been bipartisan, and my goal is to help support great policy makers.”
Bankman-Fried has supported Republicans during this cycle, primarily through his $2 million contribution to the blockchain and cryptocurrency-focused GMI super PAC. But the bulk of his giving, including $27 million to the Protect Our Future super PAC and $6 million to the House Majority super PAC, has gone to support Democrats. Bankman-Fried told Forbes last month that “much of this was for primaries, rather than D vs R general elections” ($33 million of his contributions were made during the first four months of 2022.)
Sam Bankman Fried, cofounder of FTX, photographed by Guerin Blask for Forbes in September 2021.
Guerin Blask/Forbes Collection
Anti-Abortion Group Says It Will Spend Another $1 Million In Support Of Walker In Runoff Election
On Wednesday, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and its partner super PAC, Women Speak Out, announced they plan to spend at least $1 million on behalf of Republican Herschel Walker‘s Senate campaign in Georgia’s runoff election. If they follow through, it would bring their total outlay to about $2 million in support of Walker since the Daily Beast reported on Oct. 3 that he’d encouraged and paid for his girlfriend to have an abortion. Walker denied the report.
Other pro-life groups have combined to spend $160,000 on behalf of Walker in the last month of the campaign. Most recently, the National Right to Life Victory Fund made a $57,000 ad buy on Nov. 1.
Virginia Thomas Doubles Down On Donations To Republican (Who Ended Up Losing House Race)
The wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, conservative activist Virginia Thomas, contributed another $500 to Virginia Republican Yesla Vega’s run for Congress in July, according to a recent filing with the Federal Election Commission. Thomas’ donations to Vega’s campaign total $1,000. Vega failed in her attempt to unseat Democratic Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, winning 48% of the vote compared with Spanberger’s 52%.
The other Republican challenger in Virginia whom Thomas backed, election skeptic Hung Cao, also lost in a close race.
The incumbents Thomas contributed to in this election, however, fared better. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) each coasted to re-election.
Watch: Massachusetts Makes History in Governor Race
On Tuesday, your correspondent joined host Brittany Lewis on Forbes Newsroom to discuss Maura Healey (D-Mass.) becoming the first openly lesbian woman to be elected as governor in the country.
Biden Says The U.S. Should Review Elon Musk’s Relationships With Foreign Governments
“U.S. President Joe Biden suggested that his administration may look into Elon Musk’s business and technical relationships with foreign governments, including Saudi Arabia, which became a major investor in the tech billionaire’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter,” reports Alan Ohnsman.
Biden, who met with reporters at the White House on Wednesday to discuss this week’s midterm elections and foreign policy issues, was asked by Bloomberg’s Jenny Leonard whether the billionaire CEO who runs Tesla, SpaceX and now Twitter, is a potential national-security threat. Additionally, she asked if Musk’s acquisition of Twitter with money from the Saudis and other foreign governments should be investigated. “I think that Elon Musk’s cooperation and or technical relationships with other countries is worthy of being looked at,” Biden said. “Whether or not he is doing anything inappropriate, I’m not suggesting that. I’m suggesting that it’s worth being looked at. And that’s all I’ll say.”
His comments aren’t likely to improve frosty relations between Biden and the world’s wealthiest man, who has mocked the president’s age and last year called him a “damp sock puppet in human form.” Musk seemed especially incensed last year that the Biden Administration ignored Tesla’s achievements in the electric vehicle market and instead heaped praise on efforts by General Motors and Ford to build up their own electric-vehicle businesses.
President Joe Biden speaks to reporters on Wednesday, Nov. 9.
The White House via YouTube
Did Ted Cruz Use Campaign Money To Make His Latest Book A Best Seller?
Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) latest book, “Justice Corrupted” debuted at No. 9 on the New York Times best-seller list for hardcover nonfiction the week ending Oct. 29, before dropping two spots. The rankings indicated that some book sellers reported receiving bulk orders.
Campaign-finance reports covering those weeks have not been filed yet, but there is reason to believe Cruz might have used campaign funds to boost his sales. In the three months after the publication of his last book, “One Vote Away,” another best seller, his campaign reported paying $153,000 to retailer Books-a-Million. Cruz later disclosed earning a $320,000 book advance the year that book was released.
Cruz also used campaign funds to purchase Facebook ads directing fans to retailers to buy “One Vote Away” in a move that led government watchdog Campaign Legal Center to file a complaint with the FEC. While the FEC has said candidates may advertise their books on their campaign’s website, it does not appear to have ruled if it is ok to use political funds to advertise the book on other websites. Campaign Legal Center has not received a response to its complaint.
Continuing Irresolutions
Updates on Checks & Imbalances’ previous reporting
Checks & Imbalances previously reported on 12 lawmakers who are or were under investigating during this Congress by the House Committee on Ethics. Here’s how they fared in their re-election campaigns:
There is good news for the losers: the panel only has jurisdiction over current members of Congress. So if the inquiries remain unresolved by the end of the term, which is likely, they’ll be dropped.
Tracking Trump
Forbes continues to update “Tracking Trump: A Rundown Of All The Lawsuits And Investigations Involving The Former President.”
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Forbes
The campaign for Trump-endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton reported spending $20,000 on food at one of Trump’s New Jersey golf clubs in October. Paxton, who won re-election to a third term, has now funneled about $75,000 of campaign funds to the former president’s businesses.
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Texas Ethics Commission/Ken Paxton Campaign
The campaign of Dan Cox, the Republican nominee for governor in Maryland, spent $24,000 at Mar-a-Lago in October. The campaign’s filing said the president’s private club was in Palm Beach, Maryland. Cox, whom Trump endorsed, was trounced in his attempt to succeed Republican governor Larry Hogan.
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Maryland State Board of Elections/Dan Cox for Governor
- “Trump team pushes to delay 2024 launch as DeSantis star rises in GOP” (The Washington Post)
- “Trump Knew of Alleged Tax Scam, Controller Says CFO Told Him” (Bloomberg)
- “How Trump Is Fleecing the Secret Service (and How to Stop It)” (Project on Government Oversight)
- “Trump Lawyers Sanctioned by Judge on Clinton Conspiracy Suit” (Bloomberg)
- “Donald Trump tells donors to help Republicans win the US Senate — by giving his own political committees money” (Insider)
- “GSA Takes Trump Hotel Lease Docs Fight To Supreme Court” (Law360)
- “Tiffany Trump wedding at Mar-a-Lago? Nuptials loom for The Donald’s youngest daughter … or so they say” (Palm Beach Daily News)
Editor’s Picks
- “The Sedition Caucus Had No Problem Raising Big Money” (The Daily Beast)
- “Conservative lawyers hail Alito for abortion ruling” (Politico)
- “Negative outside spending accounts for 69% of the $2.1 billion spent in federal 2022 midterms” (OpenSecrets)
- “TPUSA paid a quarter million dollars to Arizona State Rep. Jake Hoffman’s company the day before the election to send pro-Oz, anti-Fetterman texts” (Twitter/Molly Conger)
- “Arizona voters are united. At least when it comes to fat cats who try to buy our vote” (Arizona Central)
- “The FEC is releasing a draft final rule on internet political disclaimers today. The rule requires a disclaimer on *every* online ad. When a full disclaimer can’t fit, the payor’s name must appear & link to the full disclaimer. We vote next Thursday.” (Twitter/FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub)
- “The Achilles Thiel” (Puck)
- “Rep. Dan Crenshaw spent *$15 million* on his reelection … and basically ran unopposed. And he’s not the only one” (Mastdon/Noah Shachtman of Rolling Stone)
- “Alaska GOP senator may have illegally disclosed stock trades late” (The Washington Examiner)
- “District attorney investigating Villanueva after deputies were asked to donate to campaign” (The Los Angeles Times)
- “FEC flags excessive contributions to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and challenger Adam Laxalt in pivotal Nevada race that’s still undecided” (Insider)
- “What the election results mean for K Street” (Politico)
- “ALEC Eyes Sweeping Government Blacklists” (The Center for Media and Democracy)
- “American Hospital Association’s political committee falls victim to ‘fraudulent activity’” (Insider)
- “Ohio State University Pays Over $875,000 to Resolve Allegations that It Failed to Disclose Professor’s Foreign Government Support” (Department of Justice)
- “Seasoned lobbyist and Dem. chief comes back for more” (LegiStorm)
In Closing
“I’m gonna take my problem to the United Nation
Well I called my congressman and he said quote
‘I’d like to help you son, but you’re too young to vote”
Sometimes I wonder what I’m gonna do”
— Eddie Cochran, “Summertime Blues”
