The use of super PACs in Democratic primaries has sparked a new round of bickering, as several senators demanded its outlawry on Tuesday, reviving long-simmering tensions between progressive and centrist contenders.
Nine senators, including Vermont Independent Bernie Sanders, wrote an open letter to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin on Tuesday, urging them to limit the impact of affluent contributors and super PACs on Democratic primary elections. Eight senators have written to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) requesting that they approve a resolution barring “dark money” and super PACs from funding party primaries. They claim that the public needs to see the DNC doing something about this issue before the 2026 midterms, when it might be a deciding factor.
That Elon Musk was able to spend $270 million to get Donald Trump elected is proof of how the American people feel about the corrupt political system. Reform is what they seek. There is room for improvement, the letter stated. “We need to start by purging our own ranks if we want people to take our criticism of Citizens United seriously.”
Sens. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Tina Smith of Minnesota, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Peter Welch of Vermont, and Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts all signed the letter.
This letter brings up old grudges within the party that have been simmering since the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. FEC allowed wealthy people and labor organizations to spend almost unlimited money on politics. A prominent figure in these discussions, Sanders turned his presidential bids in 2016 and 2020 into a referendum on the impact of affluent contributors on the Democratic Party.
In the most recent election, progressives hailed candidates who had taken money from the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel organization that had spent millions in the primaries to unseat Democrats it saw as anti-Israel via its connected super PAC. Critics of corporate expenditure point to the Bitcoin business as an example; this sector spent millions on political campaigns, supporting pro- and anti-industry candidates.
Right away, several Democrats started to doubt the DNC’s capacity to actually limit donations to super PACs. In the past, national party organizations have collaborated directly with campaigns, despite the fact that outside groups cannot be legally allowed to coordinate with them.
An earlier resolution of the Arizona Democratic Party started the process of formulating a policy to prevent candidates in state primaries from being “elected due to outside or independent electioneering spending funded by big donors who are circumventing legal limits on direct contributions to a candidate’s campaign fund,” as the letter uses it to illustrate a hypothetical situation.
Jaime Harrison, a former chair of the Democratic National Committee, has remarked that senators should “just pass a damn bill” and “stop passing the buck.”
“The Democratic National Committee has the power to approve a very strong resolution, but what consequences will it have?” X was written by Harrison. “Those particular PACs will engage in whatever behavior they deem fit. So, what more “activity” can the DNC do to get the desired outcome?!”
A former member of Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign staff, Ammar Moussa, was concerned that Republicans would gain an economic edge if they were able to limit the activities of outside groups with ties to Democrats.
Let the Republicans spend all the money they want to characterize Democrats while we hold our collective hands behind our backs. When I ask for a break, Moussa begs on X. By all means, enact the legislation if that is what you desire. However, our party’s electoral prospects are negatively impacted by these pointless purity tests.
