R-2026-001
March 8, 2026
The Black Tax — The Asymmetric Cost of Running While Black
The asymmetric cost of running while Black in American politics — receipts, not metaphors.
Open the receipt →2×
The cost.
The asymmetric costs that decide who runs and who folds — receipts, not narrative.
2×Asymmetric cost ratio
1Receipts published
2 / 3Sourcing rule
The cases.
How we run this beat.
- FEC filing ingestion. Every campaign finance filing — disbursements, receipts, and in-kind contributions — is pulled from FEC EFTS within 24 hours of submission and indexed by candidate, district, cycle, and vendor category.
- Vendor invoice cross-reference. Reported disbursements are matched against publicly available vendor rate cards and industry benchmarks to identify statistically anomalous costs for equivalent services across comparable campaigns.
- Internal budget comparison. Where internal budget documents are obtained through reporting, they are compared against FEC filings to surface discrepancies in what was planned versus what was disclosed.
- Right of reply. Every named candidate, treasurer, or vendor is offered a 72-hour window to respond on the record. Their reply prints in full at /right-of-reply.
- Publication. Receipt prints with the FEC filing, vendor invoices where obtained, and the comparable rate benchmark — side by side, with the asymmetric cost ratio calculated and disclosed.