Michael Toner and Karen Trainer Co-Author Book Chapter on Emerging Campaign Finance Trends – and their Impact on 2022 Midterm Elections and Beyond

August 7, 2023

Washington, DC – Michael E. Toner, Chair of the Election Law & Government Ethics Practice, and his colleague Karen E. Trainer co-authored a chapter of the recently released book, The Red Ripple: The 2022 Midterm Elections and What They Mean for 2024. Toner and Trainer’s chapter is a follow up to the chapter they co-wrote in the book titled A Return to Normalcy? The 2020 Election that (Almost) Broke America.

Both books were edited by well-known University of Virginia Political analyst Larry J. Sabato; Kyle Kondik, managing editor of the newsletter Sabato’s Crystal Ball; Cara Ong Whaley, cohost of the Politics is Everything podcast; and J. Miles Coleman, an associate editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball. The latest book, The Red Ripple, focuses on bringing together respected figures from across the political spectrum to examine the 2022 midterm election, and what its developments and outcome will mean for the United States in the 2024 election and beyond.

In Chapter 14, titled “Emerging Campaign Finance Trends and Their Impact on the 2022 Midterm Election and Beyond,” Toner and Trainer discuss the historic fundraising tally during the 2022 election cycle and where it came from, including the role of PACs and other outside fundraising groups; the changing role of political parties in the fundraising arena; early voting and its effect on campaign strategy; the impact of technology, including text messaging, on fundraising and voter turnout; and look ahead to the 2024 election cycle, and the possibility of new record-breaking fundraising.

“Perpetuating a trend we have witnessed during the last few decades of ever-increasingly expensive election cycles, the 2022 election was the costliest congressional midterm election in American history, with approximately $8.9 billion spent in total,” Toner and Trainer wrote. “All in all, the stage is set for one of the most interesting and hotly contested presidential elections in American history in 2024, with continued campaign finance innovations and developments.”

The Red Ripple: The 2022 Midterm Elections and What They Mean for 2024 is available for sale here. Chapter 14 is made available with the permission of Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, all rights reserved, and can be viewed here.