Fredreka Schouten - National Political Writer, CNN Politics
Fredreka Schouten
National Political Writer, CNN Politics
Fredreka Schouten is a CNN Politics national political writer, where she focuses on money in politics.
Latest
The crypto industry plowed tens of millions into the election. Now, it’s looking for a return on that investment
Nov 17, 2024
The cryptocurrency industry’s leading super PACs plowed $131 million into congressional races in this cycle to help elect dozens of pro-crypto lawmakers to Congress, while individual billionaires with crypto interests spent millions to help return Donald Trump to the White House.
Trump could pick government’s top ethics official – after key ally blocked Biden’s choice
Nov 8, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump could be in a position to select the government’s top ethics czar when he assumes office in January – after a key ally in the Senate blocked President Joe Biden’s pick to head the Office of Government Ethics.
Last-minute challenges in battleground Pennsylvania target thousands of mail-in ballots
Nov 5, 2024
Thousands of mail-in ballots in the battleground state of Pennsylvania have been targeted for rejection as part of a last-minute campaign that has set off alarms for voting rights groups and exasperated local election officials.
How voter purge disputes have fueled the GOP ‘narrative’ of noncitizen voting
Oct 29, 2024
The letter that Jona Hilario, a mother of two in Columbus, received this summer from the Ohio secretary of state’s office came as a surprise. It warned she could face a potential felony charge if she voted because, although she’s a registered voter, documents at the state’s motor vehicle department indicated she was not a US citizen.
Elon Musk keeps up pro-Trump spending spree as Harris continues to dominate money race, new filings show
Oct 25, 2024
Elon Musk plowed nearly $44 million in October into a super PAC working to restore Donald Trump to the White House – pushing the billionaire’s total donations to the group he established to benefit the former president to nearly $119 million, new campaign finance reports show.
Harris entered October with big cash edge over Trump
Oct 21, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris’ political operation entered the final full month of the election with a substantial cash advantage over former President Donald Trump’s network, campaign reports filed Sunday night show.
Elon Musk and other billionaires invest staggering sums into electing Trump, plus other takeaways from third-quarter filings
Oct 16, 2024
Some of the world’s wealthiest figures – led by conservative donor Miriam Adelson and tech billionaire Elon Musk – have funneled tens of millions of dollars into political groups in recent months to boost Donald Trump’s White House bid, new reports filed Tuesday with federal regulators show.
Swing-state election officials move aggressively to guard against a repeat of 2020’s disruptions
Oct 14, 2024
In Arizona’s third most-populous county, a Republican supervisor who is responsible for certifying November’s election results has argued that fellow county officials conspired to manufacture his lopsided defeat in the primary for sheriff, a contention recently shot down by independent investigators. Still, when the time came to sign off on the results during a board meeting recently, Pinal County Supervisor Kevin Cavanaugh declared he only was voting to do so “under duress.”
Kamala Harris has raised $1 billion since launching presidential campaign
Oct 9, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris’ political team has raised $1 billion since entering the presidential race in late July, two sources familiar with the figure told CNN – marking a massive fundraising milestone in her campaign against former President Donald Trump.
Spending in presidential and congressional races projected to hit nearly $16 billion and smash records, new analysis shows
Oct 8, 2024
This year’s spending to elect a president and members of Congress will hit at least $15.9 billion – putting 2024 on track to become the nation’s most expensive federal election, according to a new analysis from OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan organization that tracks money in politics.
Trump’s ground game relies on untraditional strategies to draw out battleground voters
Oct 5, 2024
Targeting irregular voters, teaching supporters to surveil polling places and bombarding states with voting-related lawsuits – this is the machine the Trump campaign has built for an election that many expect to hinge on just tens of thousands of ballots cast across seven battleground states.
Election experts raise fresh alarms about vote counting delays – and chaos – in battleground states
Sep 22, 2024
Election observers worry that delays in counting mail ballots in several battleground states this year could lead to the same chaos that plagued the 2020 election.
Harris’ cash edge funds advertising blitz as Elon Musk cuts big check to House Republicans, new filings show
Sep 21, 2024
Kamala Harris entered September – and the closing weeks of the presidential campaign – with significantly more available campaign cash than Donald Trump, new federal filings show, after setting a grassroots fundraising record during her first full month as the Democratic presidential nominee.
At a star-studded online rally with Oprah Winfrey, Harris discusses abortion rights, immigration and gun ownership
Sep 20, 2024
Kamala Harris sought to capitalize on the star power of Oprah Winfrey and Hollywood celebrities to win over persuadable voters during an online rally Thursday.
From Oprah livestream to house parties, Black women marshal unprecedented outreach for Kamala Harris
Sep 19, 2024
Kamala Harris’ historic candidacy has unleashed a surge of activism among Black women, who have long been a key part of the Democratic coalition.
Gov. Brian Kemp doesn’t need to investigate Georgia election board members who pushed new rule changes, state AG finds
Sep 6, 2024
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp does not have an obligation to investigate members of the State Election Board who have come under fire for enacting last-minute changes to election procedures in this battleground state, according to an opinion issued Friday by the state’s attorney general, Chris Carr.
About
Fredreka Schouten is a CNN Politics national political writer, where she focuses on money in politics.
Before joining CNN, Schouten worked at USA TODAY, where she spent a dozen years writing about campaign-finance issues, lobbying and ethics. While there, she tracked the rise of unlimited money in federal politics and the ethics issues that confronted the Trump administration.
Schouten has covered an array of topics in her Washington career, ranging from environmental issues and gambling policy as a correspondent for Western newspapers in the Gannett chain to writing about the passage and implementation of President George W. Bush’s signature education law, the No Child Left Behind Act, as national education correspondent for Gannett News Service. She also has served as a city editor and bureau chief at Gannett newspapers.
Schouten got her start in journalism at The Virgin Islands Daily News, her hometown newspaper. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of the Virgin Islands.
