A thumbs up hand on the right and a thumbs down hand with chalk on the left side on a blue backdrop

Independent Expenditure Campaigns: What They Can and Can't Use

by Tobias Cebulash (He/Him)

What information independent expenditure (IE) campaigns can use depends on who you ask, and what set of laws you’re covered by. In recent years, you may have seen candidate campaigns that appear to bend over backward to make photos and b-roll videos publicly available on their website (a classic example of this being “McConnelling,” which went viral in 2014). Why? What are voters going to do with all this stuff? Well, it turns out that in most cases, the audience isn’t the run-of-the-mill voter at all. These campaigns may instead be trying to make information publicly available for independent expenditure campaigns to use.

IE Campaign Planning

Independent Expenditure Campaign Planning

by Alice McLoughlin (She/Her)

Here at The Campaign Workshop, we have written a lot about independent expenditure strategy in the past, but the key takeaways never change:

  1. Know your goals.
  2. Do no harm.
  3. Don’t duplicate efforts.
5 children standing against a white board with books on their heads.

Independent Expenditure Planning Quick Tips for IEs

by Martín Diego Garcia (He/Him)

An independent expenditure is an effort that expressly advocates for or against a candidate which is not made in coordination with any candidate campaign by a third party entity. When planning an independent expenditure campaign for or against a particular candidate it’s important not to make these three common mistakes.

IE FAQs

What Is an Independent Expenditure? (And Six Other Independent Expenditure FAQs Answered)

by Martín Diego Garcia (He/Him)

We wanted to answer some basic independent expenditure frequently asked questions (FAQs). From simply defining what an independent expenditure (aka IE) is to discussing contribution limits, this article aims to provide background and clarity on IEs and how they work.

Woman from the shoulders down sitting on a bench with a pen and notebook in hand. She is wearing a patterned orange shirt.