Out-of-state campaign spending responsible for many of Idaho’s negative campaign ads

BOISE (Idaho Capital Sun) — An influx of out-of-state campaign money paid for many of the negative ads in Idaho during the 2024 elections, Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane said Wednesday during the Associated Taxpayers of Idaho Conference in Boise.

“There was more money from out of state on negative ads than there was in state,” McGrane said. “That’s the big shift.”

During the tax conference, McGrane presented campaign spending and independent expenditure data for 2024. The data are available on the revamped VoteIdaho.gov website by clicking the “elections info and results” tab and then the “data and dashboards” header.

Most of the money for negative ads came during the 2024 primary election, not last month’s general election.

Of the $1.1 million in out-of-state spending during Idaho’s 2024 primary election, $925,985 was spent opposing candidates versus just $187,649 in out-of-state money spent supporting candidates.

By contrast, most of the in-state campaign finance money was spent in support, not in opposition. Among in-state expenditures, almost $1.5 million was spent in support, while $795,643 was spent in opposition.

“Everyone I talked to, every legislator who’s approached me recently – and I’ve had people come to the office – is like, ‘How do we stop out-of-state money?’” McGrane said. “And the biggest challenge is, you can’t stop it. We can add more reporting, more transparency. We can steer the rules – whether it’s the funding limits for candidates or other things. But money in politics is a part of the system. It’s like water in a river. You can steer it but you can’t stop it.”

“There is more money coming in than ever before,” McGrane added.

With the influx of campaign money – almost $16.4 million in total spending in 2024 – McGrane said transparency and accurate financial reporting are more important than ever. The Idaho Secretary of State’s Office recently revamped the VoteIdaho.gov website to include campaign finance data. From the site, the public can search for the candidates who spent the most money, the out-of-state organizations that spent the most money and more.

For the 2024 primary election, the out-of-state group spending the most was the Alexandria, Va.-based Make Liberty Win. The group spent $703,533 in Idaho for the 2024 primary election, more than all other out-of-state groups combined. In the primary, Make Libery Win spent $107,473 opposing former Senate Majority Leader Chuck Winder, R-Boise, who was defeated in the primary.

Make Liberty Win also spent $112,852 opposing House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, who won his primary election and went on to be re-elected Nov. 5.

Make Liberty Win spent money opposing Winder, Moyle and 30 incumbent Idaho legislators during the primary election.

“It’s interesting, because all of a sudden, we’re not used to this attention,” McGrane said. “We’re used to our cause. We’re Idaho. We’re a flyover space. People aren’t supposed to pay attention. All of a sudden people are paying attention, and we’re seeing more money in this space.”

Overall, most campaign money still comes from Idaho, not out-of-state, McGrane said. But when it comes to negative campaign spending, the out-of-state contributions exceed in-state.

Now in its 78th year, the annual Associated Taxpayers of Idaho Conference has long been considered the unofficial kickoff to Idaho’s annual legislative session, which begins Jan. 6. About 500 people attended Wednesday’s taxpayers conference in Boise, including dozens of elected officials, business executives, lobbyists, finance and accounting professionals.

During the tax conference, McGrane also announced the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office is launching a revamped lobbyist reporting and disclosure system and website. The new lobbyist disclosure site is similar to the revamped campaign finance site McGrane used to highlight out-of-state spending.