During the 2024 elections, political advertisers spent tens of billions of dollars trying to will their preferred candidates into office. The groundwork for this historic spending spree, however, was actually laid exactly 15 years ago.

Former President Trump said Thursday he did not support a push by allies at the Republican National Committee (RNC) to effectively make him the party’s presumptive nominee, even as former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley remains in the primary race.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., plans to introduce legislation to reverse the landmark Supreme Court case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

First reported by RealClearPolitics, Hawley's legislation would prohibit publicly traded corporations from making independent expenditures, donating to Super PACs or engaging in other "electioneering communications."

Liberal mega-donor George Soros will contribute $125 million to his super PAC, which will make him one of the biggest donors to Democratic groups and candidates for the 2022 election cycle to date.

Soros’s group, Democracy PAC, launched in 2019 and contributed more than $80 million to Democratic groups and candidates leading up to the 2020 elections. It made the most recent announcement before the group’s spending is posted publicly next week after filing with the Federal Election Commission.

This Abridge News topic aggregates four unique arguments on different sides of the debate. Here are the quick facts to get you started:

THE QUICK FACTS

Ten years ago exactly — on Jan. 21, 2010 — the Supreme Court gave the green light to unlimited political expenditures by corporations, labor unions and nonprofit groups. The decision in Citizens United v. FEC, which said curbs on such spending violated the First Amendment, fundamentally changed the way elections are financed today.

"You have the right not to open the door. You have the right to be protected from unlawful searches by ICE agents. You do not have to sign any documents that a government official asks you to sign. Know your rights."

More than 100 democracy reform organizations are making another attempt at convincing Congress to take action to limit the influence of big money in politics.

A letter signed by 123 organizations was sent to members of the House of Representatives on Thursday, urging them to cosponsor a resolution proposing a constitutional amendment to limit how much can be raised and spent to influence elections. Some of the organizations include American Promise, Common Cause, End Citizens United Action Fund, the NAACP, Public Citizen, U.S. PIRG and Wolf-PAC.