Outside spending overall in the 2020 cycle is over $2 billion, making it the most expensive election cycle since the disastrous 2010 Citizens United decision
Ten years after the disastrous 2010 Supreme Court decision of Citizens United, the 2020 election cycle is set to see more outside spending than any other election cycle. Senate races across the country in particular, including North Carolina, are on track to be the most expensive in history.
From 2010 to 2018, outside groups poured over $188 million in political ads and other spending into North Carolina Senate and House races. In the 2020 election cycle alone, North Carolina has been hit by over $232 million in outside spending, much of it on political ads. In total, since the disastrous 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision, North Carolina has seen over $420 million in outside spending.
“In Congress, Senator Thom Tillis had the opportunity to require dark money groups to disclose their big donors, but he didn’t. Tillis had a chance to support a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, but he didn’t. He even could have supported the most comprehensive anti-corruption legislation since Watergate, but he didn’t,” said End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller. “Thom Tillis has only helped create a corrupt system where corporations and mega-donors can spend unlimited and undisclosed money in elections. Cal Cunningham is rejecting corporate PAC money and will fight to put an end to this Wild West era of campaign spending by wealthy political donors and corporations.”
While Senator Thom Tillis, who has taken $3.3 million from corporate PACs over the course of his career, has propped up the broken system created by Citizens United, Cal Cunningham is fighting to unrig it to put power back into the hands of North Carolinians. Since the onset of the 2020 cycle, Cunningham has run a reform-focused campaign, choosing to reject corporate PAC money and put the needs of North Carolinians first. He also put forth a comprehensive reform agenda to combat the influence of money in politics, which would make government more transparent and accountable to North Carolinians by getting Big Money out of politics, ending partisan gerrymandering, securing elections and guaranteeing access to the ballot. Cunningham’s anti-corruption messaging is resonating with voters, making the North Carolina Senate race one of the most competitive in the country.
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