outside money

November 11, 2016 - Independent political spending groups have nearly doubled the total they spent in the state during the last presidential election, dishing out at least $28 million to help elect their preferred candidates. The race for governor, still without a declared winner, was especially costly.

November 8, 2016 - The battleground state's elections board uses outdated software that often prevents the public from learning who outside groups are targeting in their ad buys. Reports on some $2.3 million spent in the state by these groups lack this basic information as of the day before the election.

August 10, 2016 - Hundreds of businesses have publicly opposed North Carolina's House Bill 2 for discriminating against transgender people. But even after Gov. McCrory signed the bill into law, some of those same companies continued funding a super PAC that's spending millions to boost his re-election chances.

January 22, 2016 - Six years since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down restrictions on political spending, overwhelming numbers of Americans across the partisan spectrum says it's time for far-reaching reforms — and the message is getting through to elected officials.

January 21, 2016 - On the sixth anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision that allowed unlimited private money to flow into U.S. elections, with political spending showing no signs of slowing, citizens and some elected officials are taking action to end what some call "legalized corruption."

January 6, 2016 - By the time President Obama announced a series of executive actions to restrict firearms this week, 147 Americans had already lost their lives to gun violence in the new year, with the first fatal shooting taking place in Florida just 15 minutes into 2016. But the ongoing carnage didn't stop the gun lobby and politicians it backs from threatening to block the plan.

December 18, 2015 - Super PACs, "social welfare" nonprofits, and other outside groups are spending record amounts on ads in the 2016 presidential race, more than triple the total at this point compared to four years ago. But are the ads effective? We consider lessons from North Carolina, a key swing state that in recent elections has attracted record amounts of outside money.