Supreme Court eases spending rules in win for GOP as U.S. Senate battles brew

by Ross Williams, Georgia Recorder, [This article first appeared in the Georgia Recorder, republished with permission]

June 30, 2026

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down federal limits on how much political parties can spend on candidates Tuesday, likely increasing the flow of cash into federal races.

Republicans celebrated the decision as a victory heading into November’s pivotal midterm elections, when Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is attempting to hold onto his seat against Republican Congressman Mike Collins. Ossoff is the only Democrat up for re-election in a state won by Republican President Donald Trump in 2024, which makes him a major target for the GOP.

In a 6-3 decision along ideological lines, the conservative justices found that limits on a national party’s ability to spend on federal candidates violate the First Amendment’s free speech protections.

The ruling doesn’t strike down individual contribution limits but allows parties to fully coordinate expenditures with candidates, said Georgia State University law professor Eric Segall.

“Before today, there was a limit to how much money they could spend in coordination with the candidate,” he said “And that’s a difference that matters.”

“After today, both political parties can spend unlimited amounts on their candidates, and that means paying their bills for them directly,” added Segall, who criticized the decision as likely to increase political corruption. “Because now they’ll say, ‘oh, what money do you need the most? I need money for advertising. Here’s $10 million.’”

One way this could benefit candidates has to do with a Federal Communications Commission rule requiring TV and radio stations to offer their lowest advertising rates to federal political candidates in the days leading up to an election. That means a political party could send funds to candidates specifically for advertising and buy ads at three to 13 times lower rates than the price the party would pay, according to the National Republican Senate Committee, which successfully argued the case.

Although the ruling applies to both parties, it is likely to help Republicans in this year’s elections, the committee said in a Tuesday memo to supporters that said the practical impact is “asymmetric” because Republican Party committees have vastly out raised Democratic committees in this election cycle.

According to Federal Election Commission filings, the NRSC, Republican National Committee and National Republican Congressional Committee had more than $256 million in cash on hand as of the end of May, compared with just under $127 million for the equivalent Democratic committees, the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which all intervened in the case to argue in favor of the limits.

But it’s not yet clear how many of those millions will be coming to Georgia to help Collins.

Republicans in the U.S. Senate have a 53-47 advantage, and Democrats are hoping to compete in nine states in an underdog attempt to win the chamber.

“It’s great for Collins if the NRC is all in on Georgia,” said Kennesaw State University political science professor Kerwin Swint. “And I don’t know, maybe they will be, but you know, if you’re the NRSC you really want to win in Maine, and you really want to try to knock off (the Democratic nominee in Michigan), and so there’s a lot of other tempting targets out there, even Ohio, but you know, with this ruling maybe the NRSC will have enough weaponry to hit Georgia too.”

Republicans could also be planning to spend big to avoid a flip in Texas, where polling shows Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico in a dead heat.

According to the FEC, Ossoff has the highest fundraising totals of any Senate candidate in 2026, raising $14 million from the start of the year through March.

With the election now just over four months away, the parties’ strategies will soon become clear, said Kennesaw State University political science professor Jason Shepherd.

“Both sides are going to be looking at their internal polling and seeing where they have a viable chance or where they don’t,” he said. “And at that point, where money is most critical, which is as voters are making up their minds, we’ll see if the RNC pours more resources into Georgia or basically decides that it’s going to take the loss in Georgia to take a win somewhere else.”

Spokespeople for the Ossoff and Collins campaigns did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jill Nolin for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com.