5 takeaways:

➀ Pending voting rights legislation would also usher in major changes in campaign finance laws. The massive For the People Act – H.R. 1 – has gotten a lot of attention in 2021 for the changes it would make to voting and redistricting. But it would also rewrite campaign finance laws. Brendan Fischer, who tracks campaign finance issues for the Campaign Legal Center, said the legislation, which has passed the House but faces tougher prospects in the Senate, would strengthen disclosure laws, end what is known as “dark money,” limit common coordination between candidates and super PACs and overhaul the Federal Election Commission. Fischer supports the legislation. David Keating, president of the Institute for Free Speech, which advocates for fewer regulations on campaign contributions, opposes provisions in H.R. 1, including the one changing the composition of the FEC. Keating said it would give the president’s party control – and with it the ability to go after political enemies. Right now, the FEC has a 50/50 balance.

➁ A case now before the U.S. Supreme Court could change the campaign finance landscape. The case, Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta (see SCOTUSblog overview), doesn’t directly deal with campaign cash. Instead, it challenges a California requirement that non-profits file a confidential copy of their donor lists with the state. The plaintiff, part of a network of conservative organizations tied to billionaire Charles Koch, says that requirement is unconstitutional. The connection to campaign finance? If the plaintiffs prevail, the case could lay the groundwork for further erosion of public disclosure about who donates to organizations that aim to influence voters. The case hinges on a case from the 1950s that held that the NAACP need not comply with a similar disclosure rule adopted in Alabama because NAACP members in the Jim Crow South were subject to governmental or private harassment if their names were made public. “If the court buys those arguments, then there’s a real risk that this narrow exemption could be … broadened to reach beyond marginalized groups to include very wealthy and powerful donors who simply want to buy influence in secret without having to face any sort of public scrutiny or criticism for their political activity,” Fischer said.

➂ Money influences politics. Just how much is the question. To Fischer, the answer is clear: “Over and over again, we see that the candidate who raises the most money wins in the overwhelming majority of elections. There are certainly exceptions to the rule, but for the most part the candidate who raises the most money wins.” Once the elections are over, officeholders must scramble constantly for more money. Bribery is rare, Fischer said; most donors and politicians are more sophisticated than that. But influence is not: “A new member of Congress spends 30 hours a week raising money and that amount of call time means that members are ingratiating themselves with donors, they’re listening to their suggestions, they’re making them feel special and valued and when faced with a difficult vote that might anger some of those donors, there’s going to be a lot of pressure on an office holder to side with the interest of their donors.” Keating urged reporters to be more skeptical about the clout of political money. So-called “dark money” is only about 5% of all campaign spending, he said. Big-spending candidates who have recently flamed out include Michael Bloomberg, Jeb Bush and Tom Steyer.

➃ The cost of elections has skyrocketed. Whatever the role of money in politics, there’s no question there is far more of it. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, whose opensecrets.org website is a go-to source for reporters, more than $14 billion was spent on the 2020 elections – about double the 2016 total. A little more than half of that was for congressional campaigns, the remainder for presidential. Also notable in recent years is the power of small donations. So far in 2021, Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, has the biggest haul in the Senate, with the remainder of the top 10 divided among Republicans and Democrats. In the House, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) are No. 1 and No. 2 in small-dollar fundraising.

➄ Journalists need to be on the lookout for some perennial flubs. A panel of top campaign finance reporters gave advice on how to avoid common, embarrassing, mistakes. Fredreka Schouten of CNN: On those crazed nights when campaign finance disclosure statements are streaming in, make sure they are fresh ones – not amendments to previous reports. Michael Beckel of Issue One: Watch out for double counting, such as when a campaign itemizes a credit card transaction and then also shows the payment of the monthly credit card bill. Anu Narayanswamy of The Washington Post: On FEC disclosure forms, pay attention to the memo field; if there’s an “X” in it, don’t count that item. Rachel Shorey of The New York Times: If you are looking at donations by geography, be wary of big spikes in a few locations – they could be the pass-through donations from aggregator organizations such as ActBlue or WinRed.