From launch of coverage through Aug. 20th, total Mayday PAC independent expenditures have favored Republicans by 11%. This is the second consecutive week of net Republican advantage. Please see
this introduction for discussion of methods and motivation underlying the Advantage Gauge.
This week, Lawrence Lessig's anti-PAC Mayday SuperPAC made its second round of FEC-reported independent campaign expenditures: $115,700 for a combination of online ($81.4K) and direct mail ($34.3K) ads, this time in support of its endorsee Ruben Gallego (D; AZ-07). As detailed in another diary, Mayday's support of Gallego in his primary battle against fellow Hispanic Democrat, Mary Rose Wilcox, is particularly puzzling given Gallego's controversial 2011 vote to outlaw public financing of Arizona state political campaigns.
These latest expenditures bring Mayday's total FEC-reported campaign spending balance, to date, to:
Pro-Republicans: $143,420
Pro-Democrats: $115,700
Advantage* Republicans: 11% (down from 100% Advantage Republicans last week)
Also this week: Mayday released aggregate data regarding how donors have targeted their donations ('Republicans Only,' 'Democrats Only,' or 'Whatever Helps'). Donations targeted for 'Republicans Only' totaled just $27K (out of $7.9 million collected to date, or 0.3%). With its Republican-favoring total expenditures of $143K to date, Mayday has already more than fully expended its 'Republicans Only' funds for this election cycle. The Republican bias in spending to date is thus at Mayday's sole discretion.
* Advantage is calculated as A = (ER-ED)/ET where:
A = Advantage (positive values are net Republican; negative values are net Democrat)
ER = Expenditures benefitting Republicans
ED = Expenditures benefitting Democrats
ET = Total expenditures
The Mayday Advantage Gauge is updated weekly on Thursday mornings.