Independent groups pump money into many state-level races

Independent expenditures, as they are called, have piled up in governor's races in North Carolina and Montana, in the state Supreme Court contest in Wisconsin and the attorney general contest in West Virginia, to name just a few.

Outside groups are attracted to state legislative races and campaigns for governor, attorney general and other statewide offices because they hope to influence state decisions that resonate nationally on issues such as abortion, guns, marijuana or minimum wage.

In the Washington state race, independent groups have spent more than $900,000 on the contest between Mullet and his challenger, Republican Chad Magendanz, a GOP state representative.

The spending represents a change in the way politics work, said Michael Malbin, executive director of the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute in Washington, D.C. He said the biggest campaign donors used to be those with purely economic interests before state governments.

The pro-Democratic group Kentucky Family Values and multiple Republican-aligned groups have put money into several races, including a rematch of a close special election from earlier this year that helped Democrats retain control.

A group called Working Families, funded by another group that receives its money from corporate groups and Republican organizations, has run TV ads saying that Mullet, the Democrat, "thinks the laws don't apply to him" and claiming that he intimidated police officers to try to avoid traffic tickets.