Follow the Money: Campaign Finance data will be coming soon, so it is important for people to know where candidates are getting their money from

Monday, July 20th was the deadline for when political candidates could accept funds for their campaigns.

The statements that candidates have to submit regarding campaign finances is due by 5pm on Monday, July 27. Every day after July 27 candidates will be fined for not filing their campaign finance reports.

This means that for the candidates who are on the August 4 Primary ballot, the public will have one week to access this information, especially since the local commercial news media tends to not report on campaign financing, especially for many of the local races, which GRIID noted in our Media Monitoring report during the last election cycle in 2024.

Campaign financing is a critical component during elections, since you can determine which wealthy individuals, powerful PACs and corporations are contributing to candidates, especially at the local level.

GRIID has been monitoring campaign finance data for years and I am always amazed at how much money goes to local candidates from groups like the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, the Grand Rapids Police Officers Association PAC, the Michigan Realtors PAC and members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure, like the DeVos family.

GRIID will be posting campaign finance data for the candidates that appear on the August 4 Primary Election starting this coming weekend.

In addition, if you want to learn how to track campaign finance data please attend the UCC Power Fund workshop Follow the Money: Exploring Candidate’s Campaign Funding on Tuesday, July 28th from 6 – 7:30pm at 413 Hall St. SE, Suite #1 in Grand Rapids. UCC is asking people to RSVP for this event.