Despite predictions that right-wing money would flood the political system after the
Supreme Court threw out key campaign finance laws, a survey finds that left-leaning groups, led by labor unions, outspent conservative donors like the billionaire
Koch brothers in state political advertising wars last year.
Outside groups — nonprofits, super PACs, business and labor groups, and private individuals — spent at least $209 million to influence state-level elections in the 38 states in the 2012 election cycle. Money funneled through party groups such as the
Democratic Governors Association and
Republican Governors Association accounted for nearly 40 percent of the $209 million.
The study, released this week by the watchdog group the
Center for Public Integrity, also found that groups supportive of Democrats, led by labor unions, outpaced their
GOP rivals by more than $8 million in those states, spending some $44 million to aid Democratic campaigns.
The findings were based on an analysis of data compiled by the
National Institute on Money in State Politics and state elections offices. It focused on the states that had significant gubernatorial and state legislative races last year and had data on campaign giving.
The findings challenge the popular narrative that business groups and big donors like the industrialist brothers
David and
Charles Koch would give conservative candidates a major financial leg up in the wake of the
Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling in 2010 that lifted many of the long-standing limits on corporate and union campaign spending, while effectively invalidating some two dozen state laws on independent spending by outside groups.
“The narrative has been that Citizens United is just going to help corporations, and people have forgotten that you can take unlimited union money too,” said
John Dunbar, managing editor for politics at the
Center for Public Integrity.