The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has placed the re-election campaign for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) under the microscope. The FEC has uncovered multiple issues in a recent financial report from the McConnell campaign, which reported multiple contributions that appear to have exceeded legal limits if they were, in fact, reported correctly. Other issues include the fact that donations that were received after the 2020 primary were marked as for that election, and the campaign also failed to clarify whether LLCs that had donated are “treated as partnerships,” authorities say.
In the case of post-primary donations that were marked as for the primary, the “contributions may only be accepted to the extent that the committee has net debts outstanding from the 2020 primary election,” according to the FEC’s Susan Worthington, who alerted the McConnell campaign to the issues and requested clarification.
As she explained to McConnell’s campaign:
‘If any apparently excessive contribution in question was incompletely or incorrectly disclosed, you must amend your original report with clarifying information. Please be reminded that all refunds, redesignations, and reattributions must be made within 60 days of receipt of the contribution. To date, one or more of the apparent excessive contributions have not been refunded, redesignated, or reattributed.’
Across the battle for control of the Senate in the upcoming elections, Republicans have been struggling financially. Just this week on Fox News, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) exclaimed that he is being “killed financially” — and he’s not even one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the Senate who are up for re-election! As of Thursday morning, the Cook Political Report rates Graham’s race as “leaning” Republican, which is the last category before toss-up status. They rate five currently GOP-held seats as “toss-ups,” and they rate two currently GOP-held seats as “leaning” Democratic. In other words, the Senate map is looking pretty good for Democrats.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on FOX just now: "My opponent will raise $100 million … I'm being killed financially. This money is 'cuz hate my guts." pic.twitter.com/hqMIqpdUoe
— The Recount (@therecount) September 24, 2020
Trump’s unpopularity certainly isn’t helping vulnerable Senate Republicans. As of Thursday morning, FiveThirtyEight says that Democratic presidential pick Joe Biden leads Trump nationally by an average of 7.4 percent. That site’s Nate Silver says that if Biden is able to secure that high of a winning margin in the final national popular vote tally, then there’s a 99 percent chance he’ll win the electoral college.
Chance of a Biden Electoral college win if he wins the popular vote by X points:
0-1 points: just 6%!
1-2 points: 22%
2-3 points: 46%
3-4 points: 74%
4-5 points: 89%
5-6 points: 98%
6-7 points: 99%— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) September 2, 2020
