OpenCampaign

Campaign Finance

Influence of big money in elections

Concerns remain high about wealthy people or organizations making large anonymous donations and the broader influence of money in politics, with ongoing analysis of money flowing into the 2026 elections and calls around transparency and FEC enforcement.

How should the influence of big money and anonymous donations in elections be handled?

How important is this to you?

Sources

Gallup — https://news.gallup.com/poll/712955/election-concerns-run-high-ahead-2026-midterms.aspx
The public's top concerns center on political integrity, including ... wealthy people or organizations making large, anonymous donations to political causes (78%)
Brennan Center for Justice — https://www.brennancenter.org/topics/money-politics/influence-big-money
In the run-up to November, the Brennan Center is releasing analyses exploring key trends shaping how money flows into our elections and whose voices are heard the loudest.
Positions on this issue  ·  liberal → conservative
  1. Ban or tightly cap large/anonymous donations and mandate full real-time disclosure
  2. Strongly increase transparency and limit super-PAC/dark-money influence
  3. Improve disclosure rules and FEC enforcement without major new caps
  4. Keep current frameworks but clarify rules; avoid new spending limits
  5. Protect unlimited independent spending as free speech with minimal new rules