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The Republican spending strategy is about turnout, not persuasion.

🚨🚨MUST READ🚨🚨: Mayor Zohran Mamdani and a group of fellow basketball enthusiasts have been secretly using the NYPD Police Academy’s gymnasium in Queens to play pickup ball, according to four people familiar with the games. The mayor and his crew typically show up around 10 or 11 p.m. and enter surreptitiously through a loading dock before hitting the court. While sports fanaticism has often buoyed the political brand of past mayors, Mamdani’s choice of venue is raising eyebrows. Read the story from POLITICO’s Graham Rayman, Chris Sommerfeldt and Joe Anuta here . FINANCE FLAWS: Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman’s campaign finance disclosure reports have been plagued by inaccuracies since the spring. Copies of the campaign’s bank statements obtained by POLITICO suggest his filings might have even more problems than previously suspected. According to a disclosure report submitted to the state Board of Elections earlier this month, the Blakeman campaign had only $178,000 in the bank as of Sept. 28. Yet the campaign’s checking account had a balance of $1.7 million on Sept. 28, according to TD Bank’s monthly statement. The bank records also show dozens of transactions that are missing from his campaign finance filings. On July 29, for example, the bank statements identified the campaign using a check with the number 1156 to make a $13,500 payment to an unspecified recipient. Yet Blakeman’s campaign finance reports do not identify any transactions that used check number 1156. It also hasn’t shown a single payment totaling $13,500 at any point over the past year. In addition, there are instances in which the bank records show apparent contributions to the campaign that never show up in the disclosure reports. The statements show Blakeman was wired $18,000 by actress Lois Robbins on Sept. 2, for example, while the filings don’t show any transactions totaling $18,000 within two weeks of that date or any donations from Robbins. An $18,000 wire from attorney and campaign finance chair Howard Fensterman in July similarly doesn’t match anything in the disclosure reports. Blakeman is the first gubernatorial candidate in state history to participate in the new matching funds program that lets him receive up to $3.5 million in public money. Then-Mayor Eric Adams was blocked from participating in a similar New York City program last year due to discrepancies between his bank statements and disclosure reports. Reinvent Albany’s Kyle Kennedy said he didn’t know the cause of the discrepancies, but that it could just be due to “the timing of when things were recorded.” But, he noted, Blakeman’s campaign “will automatically be audited by the Board of Elections after the election. … Campaign finance enforcement takes place after elections, not in real-time.” Blakeman’s campaign didn’t respond to a request to explain the discrepancies. It has previously said its campaign finance problems are due to technical issues caused by a large number of donors. Several of the candidate’s campaign finance disclosure reports have been repeatedly amended, often in ways that made the initial numbers wildly inaccurate. His July report showed him with $4.7 million in the bank; that was changed a week later to show his balance was $6.1 million; then in August it was changed to $4.3 million. As POLITICO reported earlier this month , Blakeman has received about $360,000 in donations over the contribution limit that he still needs to return. Many of the donations he has already returned have been highly unusual — one person who gave $1 in July was quickly refunded $780.76. His campaign then said he accidentally submitted some duplicate contributions. Nearly a month later, it hasn’t amended the filing to show which transactions were real. And as New York Focus reported , the Blakeman campaign submitted requests to receive matching funds for 2,600 donations that were ineligible for matches. From the Capitol THE WEEKEND TURNOUT: Early voting turnout has s…

Election 2026 will be yet another “most expensive ever.” Total midterm ad spending has already surpassed $10 billion, and it is expected to exceed $11 billion by November. Ghastly! There’s no end to the doom and gloom about it. The Washington Post and the Guardian are shrieking about “dark money,” focusing primarily on Republicans (surprise, […]

The president’s constant presence on the campaign trail carries major risks.

Republicans redrew Congressional district lines to try to tilt the midterms in their favor. But now they are facing expensive and competitive races they had hoped to outmaneuver.

The 2026 midterm elections are set to become the most expensive on record, as Republicans pour cash into battleground races to defy history and maintain control of Congress. Political advertising spending for this year surpassed $10 billion in October, marking an all-time high, according to media tracking group AdImpact, driven by record spending in states […]

On Bloomberg This Weekend, Bloomberg Corporate Lobbying and Influence Reporter Emily Birnbaum explains how Elon Musk’s record political giving is boosting Republican groups in the final days before the US midterms. Bloomberg News reports Musk has now contributed more than $445 million to political groups this election cycle, putting him among the biggest political contributors ever. Speaking with hosts David Gura and Christina Ruffini, Birnbaum examines Republicans’ advantage in outside spending and Democrats’ strength in direct candidate fundraising, which can make their advertising dollars go further. (Source: Bloomberg)

EXCLUSIVE – The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is launching a new digital ad campaign touting the economic records of eight incumbent House Republicans as the party fights to retain its majority in November. The issue advocacy ads boost Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY), Jeff Hurd (R-CO), Bryan Steil (R-WI), David Valadao (R-CA), Tom Barrett (R-MI), Brad […]

Cash can’t necessarily solve the challenges that Republican candidates face.

Republicans slashed $6 million in the district

The latest disclosure comes just weeks after reports that he had contributed $366 million to back Republican election efforts.

With a fresh infusion of cash to his super political action committee in the first two weeks of October, Elon Musk has now given more than $445 million in the current election cycle and become one of the biggest-ever contributors to such groups.

Elon Musk poured another $76 million into his super PAC in the first half of October, lifting his political giving this election cycle above $442 million as he bankrolls Republicans' push to hold Congress, Politico reported Thursday. That sum already exceeds the roughly $290...

Mississippi hasn’t had a Democratic senator since 1989

Billionaire Jeff Yass gave almost $110 million to boost Republicans in the US midterm elections, making him the third-largest individual donor of this cycle and the top financial backer of embattled Republican Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

Republicans are banking on last minute injections of cash to boost the party’s most vulnerable candidates less than two weeks out from Election Day. President Trump announced on Tuesday that his political operation will spend over $400 million to support GOP candidates, while the Republican National Committee (RNC) confirmed it is transferring $50 million...

Trump-aligned PACs are pouring hundreds of millions into House and Senate races as Republicans defend an expanding midterm election battleground map.

Incumbent Mike Lawler is fending off a challenge from Democrat Cait Conley in state’s 17th congressional district US politics live – latest updates Elon Musk’s Super Pac has spent more than $500,000 in New York’s highly competitive 17th congressional district race to help Mike Lawler, the Republican incumbent, hold on to his seat. Lawler, a moderate Republican, is fending off a challenge from Democrat Cait Conley in the Hudson valley. It is among the most-watched races that could determine whether Republicans hold on to their majority in Congress. Continue reading...

The President has promised everything from billions of dollars in aid for struggling farmers to a $5,000 ‘Trump Dividend’ if Republicans win in November, but he has a poor track record of following through.

Across key Senate battlegrounds, Republicans’ cash advantage hasn’t led to an equally large amount of advertising time.