Investigating Power
Republican attorneys general from 19 states sent a letter to Congress in October hoping to persuade senators to vote against further regulations on highly polluting methane emissions following an American Petroleum Institute briefing to RAGA policy directors.
RAGA’s haul of $4.8 million is the most it has raised in the first quarter of a major election year, up from $4.4 million in 2020.
Despite having no prosecutorial experience, a former rightwing state legislator has raised more campaign cash than both a county district attorney and a private practice lawyer competing in the Wisconsin Republican primary for attorney general.
Contributions to RAGA are down compared to the same period in 2019, with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce coming in as its biggest donor.
Charles Koch’s Americans for Prosperity Action has spent $300,000 for door-to-door canvassing to support Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s U.S. Senate bid, its biggest expenditure yet for the 2022 elections.
One of the key 2022 contests for control of the U.S. Senate is the open seat in Missouri, and Americans for Prosperity has already picked its candidate for the GOP primary next August, a full nine months away.
The Republican Attorneys General Association has added another weapon to its arsenal of pay-to-play groups designed to influence state attorneys general and national policy.
The Republican Attorneys General Association reported $6.7 million in revenue in the first half of 2021, according to a mid-year IRS filing examined by the Center for Media and Democracy, $2.5 million of which came from came from a dark money group run by Trump’s go-to man for packing the federal courts with right-wing judges.
CMD President Lisa Graves testified at a March Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on “The Big-Money Assault on Our Judiciary.” Video from the hearing and written testimony now available here.
The long-time director of operations at the Republican Attorneys General Association follows Georgia AG Chris Carr out the exit door as the group’s internal split mirrors the GOP’s civil war over the Trump insurrection.