EXTREMELY OR VERY CONCERNED
Quick question for you. What do voters say worries them most, less than three weeks before the midterms? Corruption. What did both parties announce the same week? Record money.
The poll
The latest Fox News poll, taken Oct. 9 to 12 among 1,202 registered voters, put government corruption at the top of the worry list: 60% are “extremely” concerned about it, ahead of inflation at 58%. Add the “very concerned” crowd and it is 88%, as Mediaite tallied from the survey.
Nobody gets to call that a win. Congress sits at 15% approval. The Democratic Party is underwater by 16 points and the GOP by 23. Voters trust Democrats more on corruption by 10 points, but just 35% say Democrats have a clear plan for the country’s problems, and 33% say that of Republicans. Far more Democrats (72%) than Republicans (47%) are extremely concerned about corruption.
EXTREMELY OR VERY CONCERNED: that’s the voters. The donors seem calm.
The red money
The Congressional Leadership Fund, the House GOP super PAC aligned with Speaker Mike Johnson, said it raised $94.4 million from July through September and entered October with $155.2 million in the bank, per Bloomberg Government. With its allied nonprofit, American Action Network, it has raised $370 million this cycle. The haul was powered in part by $20 million each from Elon Musk and Timothy Mellon, The New York Times reported, as quoted by Election Law Blog.
Musk alone has spent roughly $366 million on these midterms, $276 million of it since July, per Reuters: $158 million to the Senate GOP super PAC, $76 million to his own America PAC and $10 million to a PAC backing Ken Paxton in Texas, among others. Same week, Musk and America PAC agreed to settle two proposed class actions over his 2024 $1 million-a-day voter petition giveaway, per Reuters. Terms weren’t disclosed, and they denied the allegations.
House Speaker Mike Johnson’s official portrait. The super PAC aligned with him raised $94.4 million in the third quarter, powered in part by $20 million each from Elon Musk and Timothy Mellon. Credit: United States Congress, public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
The blue money
Now the side that runs against billionaires. House Majority PAC, aligned with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, says it and its allied nonprofit raised $514 million from the start of the cycle through Sept. 30, with $230 million in the third quarter alone. Count the nonprofits, the Times reported, and the top House Democratic groups now have a financial edge over their GOP counterparts, through “dark-money organizations that are not required to disclose their donors.”
In Texas, Democrat James Talarico’s campaign says it raised $64 million in the quarter, which would break the record of $57 million set by Jaime Harrison in 2020, per NBC News. The campaign says it has raised more than $134 million this cycle from more than 1.3 million people, with 97% of contributions $100 or less. NBC could not independently confirm the numbers before Thursday night’s filings. “Grassroots contributors from across Texas are coming together to end billionaire control over our politics,” Talarico said. Paxton reported $18 million, and GOP outside groups have spent more than $175 million since Sept. 1 to boost him or attack Talarico, per AdImpact data cited by NBC and CNBC. Total ad spending in that one race has passed $500 million.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ official portrait. House Majority PAC, aligned with him, says it and its allied nonprofit raised $514 million this cycle through Sept. 30. Credit: United States Congress, public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
The red costume: the swamp’s biggest check
“Drain the swamp” now runs on what Reuters calls likely the single biggest political donor in this year’s races, a man whose SpaceX government contracts House Democrats want to investigate and who just agreed to settle lawsuits over his $1 million-a-day petition giveaway. CLF banked a record summer only days after canceling ads in Nebraska and Iowa to shift money elsewhere, as we covered in A LOST CAUSE. If corruption is the top concern, a party funded by one billionaire’s nine-figure checks is not the antidote.
The blue costume: dark money is bad, unless it’s ours
Democrats have denounced Citizens United and dark money since 2010. Their House operation now leads partly on the strength of a nonprofit that doesn’t have to name its donors. Talarico’s small-dollar army is real, and it is also feeding a single Senate race with more than $500 million in ads. We’ve watched this before: the crypto super PAC that backed both parties’ candidates in The swamp takes crypto, and the ad wars in THE ADS ALREADY KNOW. Anti-billionaire is a message. Undisclosed donors is a method. You can’t run on one and bank on the other.
The U.S. Capitol’s west front. Congress sits at 15% approval in the latest Fox News poll, and 88% of voters say they are extremely or very concerned about corruption. Credit: Architect of the Capitol, public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Both costumes
Here’s the adult version.
Voters told pollsters corruption is the top worry. Republicans answered with Musk and Mellon. Democrats answered with a dark-money edge and a record Senate haul. Both will tell you the other side’s money is the corruption. Neither is proposing to give theirs back.
Own the boring standard: every group that spends on elections names its donors, on both sides, before Election Day, and a party that only hates dark money when the other side has more of it doesn’t actually hate dark money.
Ask your reps one question: will they back donor disclosure for their own side’s nonprofits, not just the other guy’s? You can check who funds them on PACTracker and the Money Map, including Texas, at hypocrisydemocracy.net.
Receipts
- Fox News poll, Oct. 9-12, 2026. Corruption 60% extremely concerned; Congress 15%; party favorability; trust on corruption D+10; clear plan 35% and 33%; 72% vs 47% by party.
- Mediaite, Oct. 15, 2026. 88% extremely or very concerned about corruption in government.
- The New York Times, Oct. 15, 2026, as quoted by Election Law Blog. CLF $94 million; Musk and Mellon $20 million each; HMP and nonprofit $514 million; $230 million Q3; dark-money nonprofits; $370 million GOP side. NYT original.
- Bloomberg Government, Oct. 15, 2026. CLF $94.4 million; $155.2 million cash on hand; $370 million with American Action Network.
- Reuters, Oct. 12, 2026. Musk $366 million; $276 million since July; breakdown; House Democrats’ contract probe interest.
- Reuters, Oct. 15, 2026. Musk and America PAC settle two proposed class actions; terms undisclosed; allegations denied.
- NBC News, Oct. 15, 2026 and CNBC, Oct. 15, 2026. Talarico $64 million, campaign-reported; Harrison record; Paxton $18 million; $175 million GOP outside spending; $500 million in ads.
- Earlier Hypocrisy Democracy: A LOST CAUSE; The swamp takes crypto; THE ADS ALREADY KNOW. Reader tools: PACTracker; Money Map.
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Originally published on Substack.
