A Connecticut judge heard arguments on Thursday in a dispute over whether the state Democratic Party illegally spent money on Governor Dannel Malloy's re-election campaign last year.
A judge will decide if election regulators can subpoena records from the party. A hearing is tentatively scheduled to resume November 17.
The State Elections Enforcement Commission is investigating if the party illegally paid for a mass mailing supporting Malloy's campaign with money from an account designated for federal office campaigns.
Assistant Attorney General Maura Murphy Osborne told the court that election regulators would like to widen their inquiry.
"The SEEC's investigation is in its infancy, and it really hasn't been allowed to proceed," she said. "But if the SEEC were ever, one day, permitted to actually engage in a meaningful investigation...it might look at other expenditures by which a candidate for state office received a direct benefit through a federal account."
Republicans said the Democrats' federal campaign account included money from state contractors allowed to contribute to the federal account but prohibited from giving money to state office candidates.
Democrats said federal campaign finance law pre-empts state law on get-out-the-vote materials and they were obligated to follow federal law.
This report includes information from The Associated Press.
