Ian Vandewalker

@ianvan.bsky.social

6758 Followers 381 Following

Policy advocacy and research on money in politics and disinformation. Senior Counsel & Manager, Brennan Center.

Image of an FEC filing showing Foris Dax Inc. $5,000,000 donation to the MAGA Inc. super PAC.
Bar chart showing the $3 billion Trump made in the first year of his second term vastly overshadows amounts involved in the most notorious US corruption scandals.
shocked pikachu
A bar chart showing the tone of online ads by candidates and other groups in the 2024 election.
A bar chart showing the top 20 industries giving to the 2025 inauguration fund, with technology at the top with $46 million.
A bar chart showing inauguration donations since 2005, as well as money from donors of $1 million or more.
A bar chart showing the goal of advertisements (persuasion, fundraising, get out the vote) by the type of sponsor (candidate, party, outside group).
A chart showing the tone of advertisements for campaigns, parties, and outside groups.
Snakey chart showing portion of dark money coming from pro-Democrat, pro-Republican, and other groups going to different spending categories.
Bar chart showing dark money by type of spending, with the greatest portion coming from contributions to super PACs.
A snakey chart showing the relationship between dark money by party supported and what it was spent on.
A bar chart showing dark money groups' direct spending versus contributions reported to the FEC over time from 2010 to 2024 and the increase in contributions to super PACs
Chart showing increase in funds attributable to small donors under public campaign financing in 2024 in New York State.
Bar chart showing the increase in in-district small donors, as numbers of other donors decreased.
Chart showing percent of campaign funding attributable to small donors increasing in 2024 under public financing.
Maps showing the broad participation in public financing by candidates across New York's state legislative districts
Scatterplot showing that candidates who participated in public financing were able to raise substantial sums while relying largely on constituent small donors
Bar chart showing the doubling of constituent small donors in 2024 under public financing in New York State, while other types of donors decreased in number
Bar graph showing the increase in the portion of funding attributable to small donors in NY legislative elections from 2020 to 2024 thanks to public financing
Historian James Burke stands in front of a NASA rocket
Line chart showing the increase in weekly ad spending on Google and Meta over the 2024 election cycle.
A chart showing the rapid increase in dark money flowing through party-affiliated super PACs between 2018 and 2024.
A chart showing the large increase in money from donors of more than $5 million each to presidential super PACs from 2020 to 2024.
A bar chart showing the increase in donors of $5 million or more to presidential super PACs between 2020 and 2024.
surprised pikachu