The Supreme Court delivered a pair of victories to the GOP on campaign spending cases this year, and Senate Republicans have wasted no time in capitalizing.
The first ruling erased limits on coordinated spending between political party committees and candidates, and the second let those joint operations get cheaper advertising rates.
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Heavyweight groups, such as the Republican National Committee and the campaign arms of House and Senate Republicans, have leveraged those into a major cash advantage, a national party operative tells “Seen, Heard & Whispered.”
They’re saving as much as 60% on direct mail postage and can sometimes get discounts of more than 90% on broadcast ads when they coordinate with candidates.
And thanks to deals with streaming services such as Disney+, Hulu and YouTube, they can save 30% on ads placed on those online outfits.
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The Supreme Court in June overturned a 25-year-old precedent that had upheld limits to how much a political party could spend in coordinated expenditures with a campaign.
The justices said, in a 6-3 decision, that those limits conflicted with the First Amendment.
Then in early September the justices stepped in and revived a Federal Election Commission policy that said political parties, when they spend in coordination with a candidate, must be granted the same low ad rates that are available to the candidates themselves.
While the ruling applied to all political parties, Republicans are expected to benefit more because they have put more effort into coordinated fundraising and spending.
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