4 takeaways from Minnesota's spendiest congressional race
DFL U.S. Rep. Angie Craig (left) and Republican challenger Tyler Kistner.
Evan Frost | MPR News and Submitted
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Audio transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING] MELISSA TOWNSEND: And this is Minnesota Now. I'm Melissa Townsend. It's 12:06. Our top story today, we're looking at the election. The political race between Angie Craig and challenger Tyler Kistner is one of the most competitive in the nation. Outside spending has reached nearly $15 million. We wanted to ask who's giving all that money and how it might impact what the winner does when she or he is in office.
Sarah Bryner is on the line. She's the Director of Research and Strategy for OpenSecrets. That's a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC. They track money in politics.
Welcome to Minnesota Now, Sarah.
SARAH BRYNER: So happy to be here.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: Happy to have you. So I think you've got the latest numbers. Exactly how much money has been spent in this race for the second congressional district?
SARAH BRYNER: We're tracking this race as the 24th most expensive in the country so far. And like you said, we've seen about $15 million spent by super PACs, National Party committees, and other outside groups, as well as close to $10 million spent by the candidates themselves. So pretty significant for a House race this cycle.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: Hmm. When we talk about outside spending, you sort of alluded to it there for a minute, but what are we talking about outside versus inside?
SARAH BRYNER: Right. So outside doesn't mean out of state. It doesn't mean out of country. It means outside of the traditional regulatory regime, which is complicated. But basically, we're talking about people who can give to PACs that then can spend unlimited amounts of money. And they take this money from unlimited sources.
So you could give to a Super PAC if you're a corporation. If you're a billionaire, you can give a million dollars, unlike a traditional political campaign, where you're limited in how much you can give and who can be giving it. So the primary groups that we see doing this kind of, quote unquote, "outside spending" are super PACs. And the biggest ones are actually also the most active in this second congressional district, which are the Congressional Leadership Fund and the House Majority PAC, both of which are seen as arms of the two major parties.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: OK. So the parties are investing heavily in this race. Remind me, if you are a corporation who gives money to a Super PAC, can you be tracked, like can you as an organization track who's giving to the Super PAC?
SARAH BRYNER: Absolutely. Super PACs are required by law to disclose their donors, and they do. And we can see that information.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: So who are the largest contributors when you look into those super PACs to this Kistner-Craig race?
SARAH BRYNER: Yeah. The biggest ones tend to be kind of the biggest names in politics these days, so organizations affiliated with people like Peter Thiel, and Fred Eychaner, who runs a news corporation, Ken Griffin, a corporate leader out of Chicago, so huge mega-donors who are involved in politics from almost-- state and local races all the way up to the presidency. They tend to be the biggest donors to these groups.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: And I'm sorry, who are these people? Like, why do they care about what's happening in Minnesota?
SARAH BRYNER: I don't think they do.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: Oh, interesting.
SARAH BRYNER: Other than that-- any race right now, all races are becoming more nationalized, and so any race. It could be the one that takes it for the party. So these donors are party-aligned ideological champions, really. And so they don't care about the issues on the ground for the people in these districts.
They care about making sure that the party that they support holds power in Congress. And these toss-up races, particularly in suburbs where it really could come down to a matter of votes, are opportunities for them. So it's not an interest, unfortunately. It's not an interest in the issues affecting Minnesotans. It's a concern about whether they'll be able to, I guess, pull the strings in Congress next cycle.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: Mm-hmm. And you could make the argument that if you pull the strings in Congress, then it'll impact Minnesotans.
SARAH BRYNER: It absolutely will. But I think it's a little bit different than having Minnesota-funded candidates taking power as opposed to having that power be affected so heavily by people from, in this case, Florida, California, Illinois, places outside of the state.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: That makes sense, yeah. So who is getting the most money, which candidate?
SARAH BRYNER: Well, right now in this race, Angie Craig has raised quite a bit more than Kistner, Tyler Kistner, by about 2 to 1. That's not surprising. Incumbents almost always outraise their opponents. And that's really because-- and she's a new incumbent, but she still, in two years, has managed-- or four years has managed to create relationships with the big-pocketed donors in DC and other Democratic strongholds. So you see her fundraising reflecting that.
Although I would say, also, she's getting more money from in-state. So talk about inside money, in this case, we are talking geography. She's getting more money from Minnesotans than Kistner is, both as a proportion of her total haul, as well as in real dollars. So that's interesting and a little bit unusual for a competitive race with an incumbent. Typically, they tend to rely more heavily on the party establishment, which tends to be based outside of their district, but not in this case.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: OK. So going back to the people who are contributing to these campaigns, ostensibly they are hoping to have some power when the person is elected. What are some of the issues these people stand for or support?
SARAH BRYNER: It's really hard to get inside the mind of a donor.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: Ah.
SARAH BRYNER: And I think that-- I said earlier everything has become so nationalized in politics right now. The issues of the moment are things like abortion, gun rights and gun control, climate change and the environment. And so the people who are giving money tend to have deep-seated beliefs about those issues, and they give to the party that they believe is more aligned. This cycle is a little bit funny because the economy is such a big player in the minds of everyday people.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: Yes.
SARAH BRYNER: But I think political donors tend to be a little bit more insulated from that because to give $2,000 to a candidate is in and of itself sort of a luxury activity. That's not something that most people are able to do. And so the economy is top of mind because they obviously tend to be wealthy. But it also, I don't think, is as motivating as it is to a typical donor-- or a typical voter. So there's a bit of a disconnect there.
But when you talk about why I would give $2,500 to a candidate, which I personally would not, but if somebody were, I think typically the expectation is that they hope to be able to maybe have a conversation with that member of Congress or, particularly if they're a corporate PAC or something like that, have the door open for them when they go to Washington, DC, on their fly-in weekend, things like that so that they have the opportunity to express their opinion later down the road.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: Got it. I have just 30 seconds left, but I really wanted to ask this question, where are candidates spending their money? Can you give me a top three?
SARAH BRYNER: Yeah, totally. Increasingly, this money is going online to digital advertising firms. That's how Craig's spending her money. After that, it's probably the traditional direct mail, flyers. That's what we see Kistner doing more of. And then the day-to-day runnings of your campaign, salaries. But really, top of mind is media, both digital, radio, television, and so on.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: Got it. Well, thank you so much, Sarah. Appreciate you being on the show.
SARAH BRYNER: Thank you so much for having me.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: We'll keep following this story. Sarah Bryner is Director of Research and Strategy for OpenSecrets. It's a nonpartisan, nonprofit that tracks money in politics.
Sarah Bryner is on the line. She's the Director of Research and Strategy for OpenSecrets. That's a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC. They track money in politics.
Welcome to Minnesota Now, Sarah.
SARAH BRYNER: So happy to be here.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: Happy to have you. So I think you've got the latest numbers. Exactly how much money has been spent in this race for the second congressional district?
SARAH BRYNER: We're tracking this race as the 24th most expensive in the country so far. And like you said, we've seen about $15 million spent by super PACs, National Party committees, and other outside groups, as well as close to $10 million spent by the candidates themselves. So pretty significant for a House race this cycle.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: Hmm. When we talk about outside spending, you sort of alluded to it there for a minute, but what are we talking about outside versus inside?
SARAH BRYNER: Right. So outside doesn't mean out of state. It doesn't mean out of country. It means outside of the traditional regulatory regime, which is complicated. But basically, we're talking about people who can give to PACs that then can spend unlimited amounts of money. And they take this money from unlimited sources.
So you could give to a Super PAC if you're a corporation. If you're a billionaire, you can give a million dollars, unlike a traditional political campaign, where you're limited in how much you can give and who can be giving it. So the primary groups that we see doing this kind of, quote unquote, "outside spending" are super PACs. And the biggest ones are actually also the most active in this second congressional district, which are the Congressional Leadership Fund and the House Majority PAC, both of which are seen as arms of the two major parties.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: OK. So the parties are investing heavily in this race. Remind me, if you are a corporation who gives money to a Super PAC, can you be tracked, like can you as an organization track who's giving to the Super PAC?
SARAH BRYNER: Absolutely. Super PACs are required by law to disclose their donors, and they do. And we can see that information.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: So who are the largest contributors when you look into those super PACs to this Kistner-Craig race?
SARAH BRYNER: Yeah. The biggest ones tend to be kind of the biggest names in politics these days, so organizations affiliated with people like Peter Thiel, and Fred Eychaner, who runs a news corporation, Ken Griffin, a corporate leader out of Chicago, so huge mega-donors who are involved in politics from almost-- state and local races all the way up to the presidency. They tend to be the biggest donors to these groups.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: And I'm sorry, who are these people? Like, why do they care about what's happening in Minnesota?
SARAH BRYNER: I don't think they do.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: Oh, interesting.
SARAH BRYNER: Other than that-- any race right now, all races are becoming more nationalized, and so any race. It could be the one that takes it for the party. So these donors are party-aligned ideological champions, really. And so they don't care about the issues on the ground for the people in these districts.
They care about making sure that the party that they support holds power in Congress. And these toss-up races, particularly in suburbs where it really could come down to a matter of votes, are opportunities for them. So it's not an interest, unfortunately. It's not an interest in the issues affecting Minnesotans. It's a concern about whether they'll be able to, I guess, pull the strings in Congress next cycle.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: Mm-hmm. And you could make the argument that if you pull the strings in Congress, then it'll impact Minnesotans.
SARAH BRYNER: It absolutely will. But I think it's a little bit different than having Minnesota-funded candidates taking power as opposed to having that power be affected so heavily by people from, in this case, Florida, California, Illinois, places outside of the state.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: That makes sense, yeah. So who is getting the most money, which candidate?
SARAH BRYNER: Well, right now in this race, Angie Craig has raised quite a bit more than Kistner, Tyler Kistner, by about 2 to 1. That's not surprising. Incumbents almost always outraise their opponents. And that's really because-- and she's a new incumbent, but she still, in two years, has managed-- or four years has managed to create relationships with the big-pocketed donors in DC and other Democratic strongholds. So you see her fundraising reflecting that.
Although I would say, also, she's getting more money from in-state. So talk about inside money, in this case, we are talking geography. She's getting more money from Minnesotans than Kistner is, both as a proportion of her total haul, as well as in real dollars. So that's interesting and a little bit unusual for a competitive race with an incumbent. Typically, they tend to rely more heavily on the party establishment, which tends to be based outside of their district, but not in this case.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: OK. So going back to the people who are contributing to these campaigns, ostensibly they are hoping to have some power when the person is elected. What are some of the issues these people stand for or support?
SARAH BRYNER: It's really hard to get inside the mind of a donor.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: Ah.
SARAH BRYNER: And I think that-- I said earlier everything has become so nationalized in politics right now. The issues of the moment are things like abortion, gun rights and gun control, climate change and the environment. And so the people who are giving money tend to have deep-seated beliefs about those issues, and they give to the party that they believe is more aligned. This cycle is a little bit funny because the economy is such a big player in the minds of everyday people.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: Yes.
SARAH BRYNER: But I think political donors tend to be a little bit more insulated from that because to give $2,000 to a candidate is in and of itself sort of a luxury activity. That's not something that most people are able to do. And so the economy is top of mind because they obviously tend to be wealthy. But it also, I don't think, is as motivating as it is to a typical donor-- or a typical voter. So there's a bit of a disconnect there.
But when you talk about why I would give $2,500 to a candidate, which I personally would not, but if somebody were, I think typically the expectation is that they hope to be able to maybe have a conversation with that member of Congress or, particularly if they're a corporate PAC or something like that, have the door open for them when they go to Washington, DC, on their fly-in weekend, things like that so that they have the opportunity to express their opinion later down the road.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: Got it. I have just 30 seconds left, but I really wanted to ask this question, where are candidates spending their money? Can you give me a top three?
SARAH BRYNER: Yeah, totally. Increasingly, this money is going online to digital advertising firms. That's how Craig's spending her money. After that, it's probably the traditional direct mail, flyers. That's what we see Kistner doing more of. And then the day-to-day runnings of your campaign, salaries. But really, top of mind is media, both digital, radio, television, and so on.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: Got it. Well, thank you so much, Sarah. Appreciate you being on the show.
SARAH BRYNER: Thank you so much for having me.
MELISSA TOWNSEND: We'll keep following this story. Sarah Bryner is Director of Research and Strategy for OpenSecrets. It's a nonpartisan, nonprofit that tracks money in politics.
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