Richard Pildes
NYU constitutional-law professor who studies election law and the structure of democracy.
Richard Pildes argues that power has drained from American parties to outside groups funded by large donors. The Senate Leadership Fund's home-state committees, which filed first reports on 15 October 2026, are the latest case.
Last refreshed: 18 October 2026
Timeline for Richard Pildes
Mentioned in: SLF funds new PACs in Nebraska and Maine
US Midterms 2026Background
Richard Pildes is the scholar cited for the view that American parties have lost power to outside groups funded by large donors. The 2026 case is a set of committees with home-state names, all funded by the Senate Leadership Fund; Cornhusker Majority in Nebraska took $7.5m from it. Parties kept one edge on 14 October, when the Supreme Court left in place guidance letting them buy airtime at candidates' lowest rate.
Pildes is the Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law at New York University School of Law, which he joined in 2001 after teaching at the University of Michigan. He co-wrote the election-law casebook The Law of Democracy and served on President Biden's commission on the Supreme Court.
His argument explains why parties fragment as outside money grows: candidates and factions can raise and spend without the party, so its leaders lose the means to hold them together.
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Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Updated 18 October 2026. Editorial standards.