PAC panic: Michigan’s campaign reports aren’t hiding

More than $270 million in disclosed spending has poured into Michigan’s U.S. Senate race between Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed and Republican nominee Mike Rogers, making it the most expensive election in Michigan history — and it is still on the public record.

That point got lost in a widely shared Instagram reel claiming the Federal Election Commission had been hacked and that Super PAC reports, which the reel said are supposed to be filed every 24 hours, could no longer be seen. The record spending made the claim land hard here: the governor’s race between Jocelyn Benson and John James has drawn more than $65 million in disclosed spending, and more than $61 million has been spent on advertising in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, the nation’s most expensive U.S. House race for political ads this cycle.

But the reel was wrong at its foundation. Super PACs are not required to file a new public disclosure report every 24 hours, so there is no daily stream of reports for a hack to hide.

What actually gets filed, and when

Super PACs generally file regular reports on a much longer cycle — quarterly, on Form 3X, with deadlines around April 15, July 15, October 15, and January 31 — unless a committee has selected monthly filing instead.

The 24-hour notices the reel seemed to be thinking of apply only to independent expenditures: a committee must file a 24-hour report when its independent spending for or against a specific candidate in a specific election reaches $1,000 or more in aggregate, and only during the window that begins after the 20th day before the election and ends more than 24 hours before Election Day.

For the November 3, 2026 general election, that window runs from October 15 through November 1, 2026 — a fixed and publicly scheduled period, not an around-the-clock filing duty. Earlier in the cycle, through the 20th day before the election, independent expenditures of $10,000 or more trigger 48-hour notices; for the 2026 general election, that period runs through October 14, 2026. There is no 24-hour independent-expenditure reporting period for the final 24 hours before November 3; spending disseminated on November 2 is disclosed in the committee’s regular reports rather than in a 24-hour notice. When these notices and reports are filed, Super PACs itemize independent expenditures on Schedule E of Form 3X, listing each independent expenditure above $200, or that aggregates above $200 for or against the same candidate in a calendar year.

What actually happened to the FEC

There was a real event behind the panic. The FEC’s electronic filing system went offline late Monday, October 26, 2026, after security staff detected attempted intrusions, and the agency took portions of the system offline to contain the activity. But there was no evidence that campaign-finance data had been stolen or altered, and the FEC had not publicly confirmed a successful hack — reporting described an attempted intrusion or suspected cyberattack rather than a confirmed breach of any data.

Previously filed campaign-finance reports stayed searchable on the FEC website throughout the outage; what the disruption affected was the submission of new paperless filings, not the erasing or hiding of existing public records. The FEC said its electronic filing system was offline while IT staff worked to restore service, and later said the issue had been identified and a fix was being implemented; as of October 28, 2026, it had not yet announced the filing service restored or given a restoration timeline. The agency does not administer elections at all — the filing disruption affected campaign-finance submissions and did not affect voting, ballot counting, or any voter’s ability to cast a ballot.

Where to see the money in Michigan

For federal contests — the El-Sayed-versus-Rogers Senate race and Michigan’s congressional districts — the place to look is the FEC’s public database on fec.gov, where Super PAC independent expenditures and filings are searchable. Previously filed reports remained available there during the outage.

For state-level races and committees — the Benson-versus-James governor’s race, candidate committees, PACs, ballot-question committees, and party committees — the Michigan Secretary of State maintains a searchable campaign-finance database covering contributions, expenditures, and filings.

Those systems show the scale of the record: more than $270 million in disclosed Senate spending, with El-Sayed reporting about $30.7 million raised in the latest period to Rogers’ roughly $9.7 million; in the governor’s race, Benson and allied groups reported about $38.8 million, compared with roughly $26.7 million for James and his allies.

The bottom line for a voter on any side: Super PAC money in Michigan has not become hidden, the disclosure records remain public, and both the federal and state databases are the direct way to see who is spending on the races they will vote on.

Benson, Michigan’s secretary of state and the Democratic nominee for governor, put the state’s disclosure standard plainly: “I think every dollar that goes and is spent to influence voters and political campaigns needs to be disclosed — period.” She added, “It’s simple: no more dark money, no more backroom deals, no more undisclosed influence.”

Before the November 3 election, pull up fec.gov for federal races and the Michigan Secretary of State’s campaign-finance database for state races, and search the committees spending on those contests. The record is there to be seen.