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Scoop: Republican super PAC raised $92 million in September

20 October 2020
 Dan Ackermann

The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC associated with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, raised more than twice as much this September as it did two years ago, according to a FEC filing that will go live Tuesday night.

By the numbers: The SLF raised $92 million in September, spent $105 million, and ended the month with $113 million cash on hand, as Republicans work to maintain their majority on Nov. 3.

  • That's compared to $37 million the PAC raised in September 2018.

Why it matters: In competitive races, Democratic Senate candidates trounced their Republicans opponents in the money race last quarter, with candidates like Jamie Harrison in South Carolina collecting more than $30 million that Sen. Lindsey Graham.

  • The cash infusion from the SLF, which can raise unlimited contributions, will help Republicans stay competitive and on the air in the final weeks of the campaign.
  • Both parties prefer "hard" dollars from individual campaign committees because they receive better ad rates from local TV stations.
  • "Soft" money from Super PACs generally has to pay a higher rate in the campaign's closing weeks.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.