A wealthy out-of-state tech investor was behind a surge in campaign ads against dozens of DFL candidates in key Minnesota House and Senate races in the weeks leading to Election Day.
The $5.07 million in independent expenditures by Scott Banister and his First Amendment LLC paid for digital, mail and/or phone ads in 57 key races starting in September, according to Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board data.
Banister, described in a Fox News report as a libertarian tech mogul and early investor in PayPal, SpaceX and Uber, accounted for the single-most outside spending – spending that is independent of candidates or their campaigns – in many races while in others he represented all of it, the data shows.
Independent expenditures on that scale by individuals in state legislative races are unheard of, said Jeff Sigurdson, director of the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.
“I’ve been with the board since 2000 and this is certainly unprecedented,” he said.
Outside committees and funds, backing or attacking Republicans or Democrats, dumped millions of dollars into Minnesota races this election season. But this $5 million injection was from an individual.
MinnPost left a message requesting comment on a number listed on Banister’s filing, as well as with the vendor listed on the form, Make Liberty Win of Fairfax, Virginia. MinnPost got no response as of publication time. A LinkedIn page for Banister lists his home as Half Moon Bay, California.
Only one previous outside individual expenditure came to Sigurdson’s mind from his tenure on the board, which has been around since 1974. It was so long ago that he doesn’t think it’s on the board’s website and amounted to a mere $2,000 to $3,000.
“It was interesting, but obviously not on the same playing field,” he said.
Campaign finance data shows Banister started spending on the races Sept. 21. Expenditure reports came due the following day, but only money spent through Sept.15 was required to be included.
The next deadline for outside spending wasn’t until Oct. 26. Banister’s filing came in paper form on that day, causing a lag in when it was processed in the system.
On top of that, the board had to make a determination on where the money should be reported. Outside spending by individuals is rare enough as to not have a designated section on the site.
Creating a place for it would’ve further delayed making the spending public, Sigurdson said, so the board treated it as a committee and reported it in that section. To not do so might’ve meant a $5 million undercount on how much outside spending was publicly known before Election Day.
Banister’s spending accounted for a huge portion of outside expenditures in many cases, while representing a smaller chunk in some of the most expensive races.
In St. Cloud’s Senate District 14 race, for example, he doled out $132,042. It wasn’t likely a game-changing amount in a race that exceeded $3.5 million in outside spending.
Yet in Lakeville’s Senate District 57, Banister’s $195,487 spent against DFL challenger Steven Schroer equaled 98% of all outside spending. Compared to that deluge, a committee called Empower Minnesota steered $1,875 against the Republican incumbent, Sen. Zach Duckworth.
Banister directed the most money on attack ads against DFL candidate Jason Heaser, who is running against Republican Rep. Danny Nadeau in House District 34A. A $229,275 expenditure elevated the suburban district into being the spendiest House race in the state.
When one person has such an outsized influence on spending in a race, it highlights a major problem of money in politics, Heaser said. “They are using their money to try to influence elections that don’t directly impact them, and I think that’s wrong,” he said.
The most money spent against Nadeau, who represents the cities of Rogers, Champlin and Dayton, was $107,799 from a committee called the MN Family Prosperity Project.
Nadeau said he typically doesn’t pay attention to outside spending, but he has noticed that negative ads and outside spending has felt more pronounced this year. He hopes voters pay more attention to messaging and positions from the candidates rather than what outside spenders are saying.
“It sure takes away from candidates being able to get their message out when everyone gets really tired of seeing these ads and mailers,” he said. “It’s just a lot.”
Minnesota isn’t the sole state occupying Banister’s attention this year. He was reportedly behind $40 million total in dark money directed against Democrats in Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia and other battleground states.
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