Money politics has long dominated American politics, but the scale of the problem of “Dark Money” is particularly worrying. An interesting new article by Anna Massoglia and Karl Evers-Hillstrom and published by Center for Responsive Politics examines how dark money topped $1 billion in 2020 and boosted the Democratic campaign. Here is an excerpt:

The 2020 election saw more than $1 billion in “dark money” spending at the federal level, a massive sum driven by an explosion of secret donations boosting Democrats in a historically expensive cycle.  

That’s according to an estimate from OpenSecrets. The billion-dollar sum includes a whopping $660 million in donations from opaque political nonprofits and shell companies to outside groups. In 2020, dark money groups preferred to bankroll closely-tied super PACs rather than spend the money themselves — politically active nonprofits that do not disclose their donors reported roughly $88 million in direct election spending to the Federal Election Commission. The remainder of the total is made up of spending on “issue ads” targeting candidates online and on the airwaves.

Democrats have consistently called for closing loopholes in campaign finance law that allow secret donors to bankroll pricey political ads. But that hasn’t stopped them from using secret funds to win elections. Of donations and spending reported to the FEC, liberal groups directed more than $514 million in dark money into the 2020 election, overshadowing around $200 million that boosted Republicans. 

Read the full story here. Also, visit the main Democracy Chronicles section on American Democracy, our section on Money Politics, or our articles on Political Lobbying. Also, take a look at the transparency reference websites Judgepedia and Ballotpedia that are also great resources.