Finance
Wednesday’s Campaign Round-Up, 7.1.26: Justices help GOP with campaign finance ruling
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* When it comes to campaign finance laws, both parties’ campaign committees have faced restrictions on how much money they could spend in coordination with candidates’ campaigns. Those limits are now effectively gone.
As MS NOW’s Jordan Rubin explained, “The Supreme Court’s GOP-appointed majority ruled for Republicans in their campaign finance challenge to restrictions on political parties spending on ads with input from the party’s candidate.”
A Punchbowl News report added that the ruling, written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, “handed Republicans a massive win” and is likely to “usher in the biggest change to campaign finance law since the Citizens United decision.”
The same report went on to note that Tuesday’s high court ruling “allows for unrestricted coordination between candidates and party committees. That means committees, like the NRSC or the DCCC, can run unlimited TV ads with allied candidates. More importantly, they can also buy those ads at the much cheaper rate offered to candidates. … Tuesday’s SCOTUS ruling will also eradicate the need for independent expenditure arms at party committees.”
Republicans already enjoyed a significant financial advantage over Democrats. The Republican-appointed justices just made it easier for the GOP to capitalize on that advantage.
* In Colorado’s closely watched Democratic primaries, incumbent Sen. John Hickenlooper fended off a challenge from the left, but some of his colleagues weren’t as fortune: Democratic socialist Melat Kiros ended long-serving Rep. Diana DeGette’s career in Denver’s congressional district, while state Attorney General Phil Weiser scored a major upset by defeating incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet in a gubernatorial primary.
* In the race for North Carolina’s open Senate seat, former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper leads former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley in the latest New York Times/Siena poll, 50% to 43%, pointing to a possible pickup opportunity for Democrats.
Finance
Moss Point CTE Center ranks number 1 in state for business, marketing and finance
MOSS POINT, Miss. (WLOX) — The Moss Point Career and Technical Education Center is celebrating a major accomplishment.
The Mississippi Department of Education has ranked the center’s Business, Marketing and Finance program No. 1 in the state.
The class only started in 2023, but after just three years, it’s now at the top of Mississippi’s Business, Marketing and Finance programs.
Students and teachers in the Business, Marketing and Finance class said they’re excited and proud to be part of a No. 1 program.
“It’s awesome that, you know, I got to participate in the number one business class in the state. And it’s wonderful. We don’t really get that much light down here and, you know, it’s great that we’re finally getting, you know, some light shinned down on us,” student Aaron Luquette said.
“It’s no words that can describe the feeling of just being proud of your community and just proud of your students. And so it’s a great feeling. This is what all teachers live for. They live for this. They live for the moment when their students are excelling. And that’s why you teach is because you see the potential in every student that walks into your classroom,” teacher Mercye Ranles said.

The district says the recognition reflects years of hard work, high expectations and strong instruction in a CTE program that’s been in Moss Point since 1979.
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Finance
Nigel Farage Documentary ‘Where Does the Money Come From?’ Set at U.K. Broadcaster 5 as Parliamentary Standards Watchdog Reopens Finance Probe
ITN Productions has set “Nigel Farage: Where Does the Money Come From?,” a one-hour documentary examining the Reform U.K. leader’s finances, to air on 5, part of the Paramount Skydance Corporation, on Aug. 22.
The documentary comes amid continuing scrutiny of Farage’s finances, following the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner’s investigation into gifts made to him and the Aug. 13 Clacton by-election that the sitting MP triggered by resigning his seat and standing again.
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The documentary will examine the donors, companies and payments that ITN said have reportedly brought Farage more than £2 million ($2.7 million) in outside income since he entered Parliament in 2024, along with earnings from broadcasting, after-dinner speaking and reported property interests. A cast of expert contributors will weigh in on reported payments, donations and gifts tied to two crypto financiers, alongside the parliamentary and media scrutiny of Farage’s finances.
Jeremy Daldry, deputy head of U.K. factual at ITN Productions, said Farage’s political reach has the potential to have a huge impact on the nation, adding that the standards commissioner’s investigation makes it the perfect time to unpack the story.
“Topical, reactive documentaries are part of our DNA here at 5, and the questions around Farage’s finances really matter to our viewers,” added Federico Ruiz, commissioning editor at 5. “We dig deep into the publicly available information to examine the facts.”
Farage announced on July 7 that he would give up his Clacton seat and stand again, framing the vote as a chance for his own constituents to judge him rather than “the establishment.” His resignation, formalized the next day, froze the standards commissioner’s inquiry into a £5 million ($6.7 million) gift from Thailand-based crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne that Farage had not declared. With the Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and Restore Britain political parties all boycotting the contest, Farage’s most prominent challenger was Count Binface, a novelty candidate campaigning in a dustbin costume, part of a record field of 34 candidates.
Farage won on Aug. 13 with 22,239 votes to Binface’s 9,455, and the standards investigation resumed within hours of his re-election, since such inquiries can only continue while their subject holds a Commons seat. If the commissioner finds Farage breached the MPs’ code of conduct, the case would go to the Committee on Standards, which could recommend sanctions ranging from an apology to a Commons suspension – a suspension of 10 sitting days or more can trigger a recall petition and, if signed by enough constituents, a fresh by-election in the seat.
Farage is not the only senior Reform U.K. figure facing scrutiny. Deputy leader Richard Tice is under a separate standards investigation, opened in early August, over an alleged failure to declare a paid-for trip when speaking in a Commons debate. Robert Jenrick, who defected to Reform U.K. earlier this year, has also been referred to the standards commissioner by the Conservatives, while the Electoral Commission and police have separately been investigating donations linked to his 2024 Conservative leadership campaign.
ITN Productions is the independent producer within newsmakers ITN, known for premium documentaries responding to major world events, including recent 5 titles “Air India Disaster: The Unanswered Questions” and “The Beckhams’ Billions: How Did They Get So Rich?” “Nigel Farage: Where Does the Money Come From?” is executive produced by Daldry, with Katie Harris and Chris Price-Morgan as producer/directors, Rusen Boztas as production manager and Laura Straker as production coordinator. Post-production was handled in-house at ITN Post.
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