More Democrats reject special interest money
Texas Senate candidate’s PAC-free campaign gives him an edge in poll
WASHINGTON – Rep. Beto O’Rourke says his frustration with fundraising boiled over when he was scolded for his vote on a 2014 farm bill amendment.
A consultant admonished the Texas Democrat and said he owed an explanation not to Texans in his district but to a big-money special interest group that would be disappointed by his vote.
“I just said f--- that,” said O’Rourke, who represents El Paso. “My explanations are only owed to my constituents. ... That was the moment where I said to myself, I don’t want to be a part of this anymore.”
O’Rourke is now running for Senate, having sworn off all special interest and political action committee funding.
He is not alone. An increasing number of Democratic congressional candidates are moving in that direction by rejecting donations from corporate PACs.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, refusing PAC money hasn’t stopped several of them from raising more money than their opponents. More than 20 Democratic House challengers who have rejected corporate PAC money outraised GOP incumbents in the first quarter.
O’Rourke is now ahead in fundraising, even in his underdog campaign to oust a well-funded incumbent, Sen. Ted Cruz, who came in second in the 2016 GOP presidential primary.
O’Rourke raised more than $6.7 million in the first quarter of this year – more than any other Senate candidate that quarter and a record for a Texas Senate race without self-financing, according to his campaign. He ended the quarter with over $8 million in the bank compared to $7.2 million for Cruz, who received nearly $1 million from other political committees this cycle.
About 70 percent of O’Rourke’s contributions, overall, are from Texas.
“What I think Texans have shown is that (rejecting PAC contributions) actually turns out to be a clear advantage – and something that so many of us have been wanting to see in campaigns for so long,” he said.
Most Americans – 96 percent – blame money in politics for some or a lot of the dysfunction in the U.S. political system, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll last fall. But candidates don’t want to put themselves at a competitive disadvantage as they face not just well-funded opponents but outside spending now pouring into congressional elections.
“If we knew there were ways to raise significant small-contribution money, no one would choose to take special interest money,” said Rep. Mark Pocan, DWis., co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Even so, some candidates are trying a different way.
More than 140 Democrats and two Republicans now campaigning for Congress have pledged at least to reject corporate PAC funding, and a handful have rejected all PAC money, like O’Rourke, according a count by the group End Citizens United, named for the landmark Supreme Court case that helped pave the way for super PACs.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., doesn’t accept corporate PAC money. Thirteen other congressional incumbents are doing the same.
“This is a growing trend we’re seeing,” said Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United. “There is an effectiveness of this message with voters, which is why these candidates are doing it and because they think it’s the right thing to do.”
After touting his position in ads, Democratic Rep. Conor Lamb’s rejection of corporate PAC money turned out to be an asset in his recent special election in Pennsylvania. A post-election poll, commissioned by End Citizens United, showed that stance was the main reason nearly one-fifth of Lamb voters supported him.