On Nov. 10, two days after the midterms, two thousand supporters of the Federalist Society gathered in black ties at Washington’s Union Station to honor Sen. Mitch McConnell and the four conservative judges he guided into America’s highest court. The elegant occasion had been timed to celebrate an expected red wave at the polls. When not some, but all, of the Fox News “political experts” left their ties in the soup on that one, dinner attendants partied anyway.
People are also reading… And we are talking about big business now. Revenues generated by the 2022 elections were in the billions. It is impossible to calculate the exact figure, or in many cases to know who coughed it up. That is because this big business, unlike others, operates completely without regulation.
Political warfare of this kind is so expensive that all barriers to fundraising required leveling in order to feed the insatiable machine — and so it was done. In 2010, John Roberts’ Supreme Court bulldozed decades of campaign finance rules in a single decision — Citizens United — which equated money with free speech. In other words, dollars could vote. Attempts to limit the impact of the decision by former Sens.
Democrats worked the system for all its worth and saved many of its stars. In Arizona alone, Democrats and Independents secured the immediate future by electing outstanding public servants like Governor-elect Katie Hobbs, Sen. Mark Kelly, and Secretary of State newcomer Adrian Fontes. Alongside the outstanding current Tucson and Phoenix mayors Regina Romero and Kate Gallego, these victories provide Arizona a strong core of local leadership moving ahead.