The partisan divide is getting worse
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Campaign ad spending predicted to hit $10 billion by November 2020
Spending on broadcast and online advertising for next year's election is anticipated to crush the total for last year's midterm.
Group M, which describes itself as the world's biggest ad-buying business, predicts $10 billion will be spent on political ads for the 2020 election – a 15 percent boost above the 2018 total. Every dollar spent on television and social media, of course, is an additional dollar that candidates and political groups must successfully solicit from their allies. This ever-intensifying chase for cash is one of the many aspects of the campaign finance system that has "good government" advocates despondent.
In a report released Tuesday, Group M detailed how advertising money was spent in the last campaign with growth estimates for the next one.
It found that political advertising during an election year has a significant impact on overall ad growth. In 2018, the advertising industry grew 9.5 percent, and almost half that growth was due to political ads, Group M calculated. For the midterm election, $8.7 billion was spent on political ads. "It seems unlikely that political advertising won't be bigger in 2020 vs. 2018," the report concludes.
The growth in ad buying between presidential cycles is also growing at a faster and faster clip. Political spending grew by $1.1 billion between Barack Obama's first election and his second, but by $2 billion between Obama's re-election and Donald Trump's victory.
Political donations from women are also expected to break records in 2020, piggybacking off the momentum built up in 2018, Roll Call reported. Many women were motivated to give money in the last election, thus bridging the historical gender gap in political fundraising.
Women are likely to give even more money to campaigns in the 2020 cycle, especially since issues such as abortion rights are sure to be prominent.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the number of women who gave more than $200 to congressional campaigns in the first three months of this year was 25 percent more than in the first quarter of the previous cycle.
saraswann@thefulcrum.us | @saramswann
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Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a trio of democracy reform bills this week.
California governor signs three political reform bills
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law on Tuesday three democracy reform bills focused on local redistricting, voting access and campaign contributions.
The first piece of legislation prohibits partisan gerrymandering at the local level by establishing criteria for cities and counties to use when adjusting district boundaries. While California is the largest state to use an independent redistricting commission to draw its congressional and state district maps, local districts did not have the same regulations.
Gov. Ralph Northam used his executive authority to restore voting rights for felons, noting that Virginia is among the states that permanently strips such rights after a felony conviction.
Virginia governor restores voting rights to over 22,000 felons
More than 22,000 Virginians with felony convictions have regained the right to vote thanks to executive actions taken by Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam since he took office in January 2018, his office announced this week.
In a statement, Northam's office said he has so far restored the civil rights of 22,205 people who had been convicted of felonies and have since completed their sentences. Those civil rights include the right to vote as well as the right to serve on juries, run for public office and become a notary public.
Northam previously announced in February that nearly 11,000 convicted felons had their voting rights restored under his watch.