Week of August 5 – 9, 2024

Commission meetings and hearings

No open meetings or executive sessions were scheduled this week.

Advisory Opinions

Request received

Advisory Opinion Request 2024-12 (McCutcheon) On August 7, the Commission made public an advisory opinion request from Shaun McCutcheon. The requestor asks whether for purposes of the Federal Election Campaign Act’s contribution limits, the first round of Maine’s 2024 election for U.S. Senate, which involves ranked-choice voting, constitutes a general election, and each subsequent round, if any, is a distinct runoff election and entitled to its own contribution limit. The Commission will accept written comments on the request during the 10-day period following publication of the request (no later than August 19) and must issue a response no later than 60 days after the receipt of the complete request, that is, by September 21, 2024.

Draft Advisory Opinions

Advisory Opinion Request 2024-06 (American Target Advertising and the Conservative Caucus) On August 8, the Commission made public a draft advisory opinion.

Supplemental Material Received

Advisory Opinion Request 2024-11 (Caroline Gleich) On August 5, the Commission made public supplemental material from the requestor seeking expedited review of the advisory opinion request.

Advisory Opinion Request 2024-09 (Nanette Barragán and Barragán for Congress) On August 7, the Commission made public supplemental material from the requestor.

Rulemaking and agency procedures

REG 2023-02 (Artificial Intelligence in Campaign Ads) On August 8, the Commission made public a draft Notification of Disposition in response to a Petition for Rulemaking filed by Public Citizen. The Petition asked the Commission to amend its regulation on fraudulent misrepresentation of campaign authority to make clear that the related statutory prohibition applies to deliberately deceptive Artificial Intelligence campaign ads.

Outreach

On August 9, Commissioner James E. “Trey” Trainor, III spoke on a panel regarding recent campaign finance law changes at the Republican National Lawyers Association’s National Election Law Seminar in Palm Beach, FL.

Employment opportunities

The Commission is accepting applications for the position of Associate General Counsel for Litigation through October 4, 2024.

Upcoming Commission meetings and hearings

August 13, 2024: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

August 15, 2024: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.

August 27, 2024: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

August 29, 2024: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.

Upcoming educational opportunities

September 11, 2024: The Commission is scheduled to host a webinar on Independent Expenditures and Pre-Election Communications.

For more information on upcoming training opportunities, see the Commission’s Trainings page.

Upcoming reporting due dates

August 20: August Monthly Reports are due. For more information, see the 2024 Monthly Reporting schedule.

Additional research materials

Election Dates. The Commission has posted 2024 Presidential and Congressional Primary Dates, which are subject to change.

Contribution Limits. In addition to the current limits, the Commission has posted an archive of contribution limits that were in effect going back to the 1975-1976 election cycles.

Federal Elections 2020: Election Results for the U.S. President, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives is available. The data was compiled from the official vote totals published by state election offices.

FEC Notify: Want to be notified by email when campaign finance reports are received by the agency? Sign up here.

The Combined Federal State Disclosure and Election Directory is available. This publication identifies the federal and state agencies responsible for the disclosure of campaign finances, lobbying, personal finances, public financing, candidates on the ballot, election results, spending on state initiatives and other financial filings.

The Presidential Election Campaign Fund Tax Checkoff Chart provides information on balance of the Fund, monthly deposits into the Fund reported by the Department of the Treasury, payments from the Fund as certified by the FEC, and participation rates of taxpayers as reported by the Internal Revenue Service. For more information on the Presidential Public Funding Program, see the Public Funding of Presidential Elections page.

The FEC Record is available as a continuously updated online news source.

Other election-related resources

Videos on protecting U.S. elections. The FBI’s Protected Voices initiative provides videos designed to help political campaigns protect themselves from foreign influence. The 2019 videos offer guidance on ransomware, business email compromise, supply chain, social media literacy, and foreign influence operations. Other videos, released in 2018, include cyber hygiene topics such as social engineering, patching, router hardening, and app and browser safety.

Join the FEC on X and YouTube

Follow @FEC on X to receive the latest information on agency updates, news releases, and weekly activity. Subscribe to our YouTube channel, FECTube: FECConnect on Demand, to watch instructional videos that have been designed to help candidates and committees comply with federal campaign finance laws. Note that the FEC is not currently available through other social media platforms. The use of the agency’s logo, name, and likeness on other media has not been authorized by the FEC.