Our reporter explains the role these campaign vehicles play in local elections.
By Noah Bookstein
Original Air Date: July 15, 2026
Host: PACs are popping up in a growing number of down-ballot races. WSLR News reporter Noah Bookstein explains what these campaign vehicles do, and what role they’re playing in local races.
Noah Bookstein: Perhaps you’ve seen the mailers or attack ads that multiply right before an election. Behind a lot of them is something called a political action committee, or a PAC. They raise and spend money to support or oppose candidates and ballot measures, but unlike a donation straight to a candidate’s campaign, which is capped by law, PAC spending generally is not—as long as it’s “independent” of the campaign itself.
That notion of independence is a key part of the 2010 Supreme Court decision on Citizens United. The ruling allowed corporations, unions and outside groups to spend unlimited money on elections, so long as that spending is not directly coordinated with a candidate. It reshaped national politics, and over time, that same kind of spending has trickled down into races much closer to home.
In Sarasota, community advocates say they noticed this shift in our local commission elections. They point to a specific mix of state and federal policies that attracted special interest groups to become more active in local elections and incentivized pro-development groups to increase their spending here.
Kelly Franklin, a community organizer, saw local elections change as the state government coordinated with the federal government to promote business interests.
Kelly Franklin
Kelly Franklin: You’ve got waterfront real estate tax breaks and people like Rick Scott at the state level changing the politics from local control to state control and changing the philosophy from working for the residents and the people to working for the business interests, whether that’s Disney-fying tourists’ interest or it’s developers or it’s big corporations. Rick Scott basically said “We’re going to do enterprise Florida and turn it into a state that’s not just business friendly but business first.” And that’s what’s happened. We’ve basically had lots of outside investor developers take over and rewrite the rules at city hall, and they really, really don’t want to give up the compliant commission they’ve had, so they work very hard to keep people that won’t ask too many questions in those seats.
NB: Franklin says she first noticed a shift in city elections back in 2020—when outside money and more aggressive tactics started showing up in races that had previously been less intense.
KF: Until the 2020 election, this was a pretty small, quaint town that had decent elections, and that was the first one where we started seeing nasty tricks and big money come in, and it was the first one where there was an active PAC involved.
NB: This is the Florida version of what has happened nationally since Citizens United. Franklin recounted how, after the 2020 Sarasota City Commission election, contributions expanded dramatically—a trend that continued during the 2022 city commission election. While the Sarasota City Charter used to have more stringent limitations on campaign funding, they have since been preempted by state and federal laws. Groups spend amounts that are hard to track and have swelled beyond what local races used to see.
KF: It’s a tight power structure that operates at the edges of the legality but usually stays within the law, but the law is no longer designed to protect the public good. The law is designed to allow corporate interests to buy seats for representatives who will represent their interests but not ours. We’ve all had it with this nastiness and the corporate takeover of our government. That’s why somebody who is a liberal, loudmouthed feminist like me is ready to join forces with somebody who’s Martin Hyde. We’re sick of what feels like corruption, even if it’s technically legal.
NB: Martin Hyde is a perennial right-wing candidate and frequent flyer at public comment.
KF: This is how the politics are done here. It’s not like there was anything illegal about it after Citizens United, but it changes the balance of power because it buys marketing, it buys name recognition, it buys mailers. Money doesn’t always win, but it sure helps.
NB: The PAC-supported candidate in 2022 did not win the election.
KF: I can only hope that enough residents pay attention that they realize the world that’s being built around them is being engineered by forces that do not care about the quality of life for residents—that are focused on their comforts and their bottom lines. So, if they see a big sign for somebody, vote against them. If they see an attack mailer, vote for that person. It’s the only way we’re gonna take back our republic or our democracy and get the big money out of local politics.
NB: For WSLR News, Noah Bookstein.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm.