Report: Reclaiming Our Democracy
Outside Spending, Outsized Influence
The 2012 elections were by far the most expensive in history thanks primarily to the tidal wave of outside, special interest money triggered by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. The federal Senate and House races in New Jersey, where outside groups spent over $3 million, were no exception.
Groups federally registered outside of New Jersey accounted for 99.04% of all outside spending in New Jersey House and Senate races.
Dark money groups accounted for 8.56% of all outside spending in New Jersey House and Senate races. These groups do not disclose the source of their funds, hiding critical information from voters about who is behind the advertising and what interests are backing which candidates.
Read Billion-Dollar Democracy, our report on federal spending in the 2012 elections, here.
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