Low illegally used funds from his state campaign committee for ads to boost his Congressional campaign
Defend The Vote (DTV), one of the nation’s leading pro-democracy and good government advocacy organizations, is filing an FEC complaint against Evan Low.
Low illegally used non-federal funds through his state campaign committee to pay for ads for his federal candidacy. He also failed to properly disclose donors to his state committee in a federal filing, in an apparent attempt to hide illegal donations.
“Evan Low is clearly running a campaign ad for Congress with funds from his state campaign committee. You simply can’t do that,” DTV Executive Director Brian Lemek said. “It’s plain as day that this is a campaign ad, and despite efforts to hide some of the illegal funds, the paper trail is a mile long.”
The Facts:
Low’s state campaign committee filed a report with the FEC indicating it spent $35,000 on electioneering communications that identified Assemblymember Low.
- This includes a campaign-style video ad distributed on the internet targeting voters outside of his state legislative district along with a radio ad on a radio station that broadcasts outside of his legislative district. The video ad is not akin to the type of communications commonly produced by state officeholders.
- There’s also an additional media buy placed through Impact Politics LLC, the distribution of which has yet to be revealed. Based on the report, it targets voters outside of Low’s state assembly district.
- Low has no apparent history of distributing these types of video ads to his Assembly District constituents and the YouTube account where the ad has been posted was established on September 23, 2024. The only video it contains is the campaign ad in question.
- The ads violate election law, as they are not “routine” officeholder communications, but instead mass media advertisements targeting voters outside of Low’s legislative district that are distributed two weeks before counties in California begin mailing voters their vote by mail ballots.
Most of the funds in Low’s state campaign committee are funds that are prohibited to be spent in federal elections.
- Prohibited funds in Low’s state campaign committee include donations made in excess of the federal $3,300 limit and contributions from corporations and non-federal corporate PACs.
- In the electioneering report to the FEC, Low was required to disclose the donors to his state campaign committee because it paid for the ad. Yet he failed to do so – apparently in an attempt to hide its impermissible funding sources.
