Democratic donors step up efforts on Senate, Clinton bids
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hillary Clinton speaks at a fundraiser for Democratic congressional candidates hosted by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, in San Francisco.
WASHINGTON >> Democratic mega-donors, including George Soros and Tom Steyer, are putting millions of dollars into efforts to put Hillary Clinton in the White House and win control of the Senate. Their investment comes as Republicans worry about not only the chances of their nominee Donald Trump, but also his effect on down-ballot races.
Yet few of the GOP’s biggest donors have put major money into Trump efforts, a striking change from four years ago when Mitt Romney had more million-dollar donors on his side than did President Barack Obama. They’re also not rushing to help save the Senate, based on the July reports from GOP super PACs.
The presidential candidates and many outside groups detailed their July fundraising and spending to the Federal Election Commission on Saturday. Here are some highlights:
SOROS RETURNS
Billionaire after billionaire appeared on the latest fundraising reports from Democratic super PACs.
Super political action committees face no restrictions on how much money they can take from individual, corporate and union donors. Liberals have decried these groups as bad for democracy — yet they’ve leaned on them to help win races, saying they don’t want to disarm against Republicans.
In July alone, New York hedge fund billionaire George Soros gave $1.5 million to Planned Parenthood’s super PAC and $35,000 to Priorities USA, both working to elect Clinton, as well as $500,000 to the Senate Majority PAC. Other million-dollar donors to Priorities USA include the creator of diet product Slim-Fast, Daniel Abraham, and Donald Sussman, a financier who is divorcing Maine Rep. Chellie Pingree.
Soros’s latest contributions bring his 2015-2016 super PAC total to more than $14 million — a fivefold increase from his super PAC investments during the previous presidential election.
BILLIONAIRE EFFORTS
Across the country, California hedge fund billionaire Tom Steyer is feeling similarly generous.
Last month, he pumped another $7 million into his super PAC, called NextGen Climate Action Committee. In the past two years, he has put into $38 million into the group, which works to defeat politicians who don’t believe in human-caused climate change.
NextGen also is spending heavily to help Clinton, including by giving millions of dollars to labor union super PACs that back her.
Another billionaire with his own super PAC, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, gave $5 million in July. The group, called Independence USA, backs candidates who want stricter gun control measures.
Although that often means championing Democrats, the super PAC recently began spending to help Republican Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey retain his seat in a tough contest. Bloomberg praised Toomey’s support of expanding background checks as his chief motivation for doing so.
Bloomberg has also endorsed Clinton.
DAD BOOSTS SENATE BID
The Senate Majority PAC, a group with ties to Minority Leader Harry Reid, netted $7.3 million in July — its best fundraising yet this year. One of its top donors was Thomas Murphy, a Florida construction executive whose son Patrick Murphy is likely to face off with Republican Sen. Marco Rubio. The younger Murphy is a Democratic representative who had worked with his family’s company before being elected to office.
Other $1 million donors to Senate Majority PAC were the Greater New York Hospital Association Management Corporation, a network of heath care facilities in the northeast, and the Laborers’ International Union of North America.
On the Republican side, the Freedom Partners Action Fund is typically among the biggest groups spending in Senate races. In July, it counted a single donor, hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer. He gave $1 million.
Freedom Partners is one of many political and policy groups steered by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, who are uncomfortable with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and have decided to concentrate on down-ballot races. Likewise, Singer is not a Trump backer.
Singer also gave $1 million in July to the Republican-backing Senate Leadership Fund. He was joined by Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus. The contributions of those two men accounted for about 80 percent of the super PAC’s July fundraising — a sign that the numerous GOP donors on the sidelines in the presidential campaign aren’t all moving their money down ballot, as some had predicted.
TRUMP HELPERS
A pro-Trump group called Great America PAC landed its biggest contribution yet in July, $100,000 from billionaire Charles Johnson, a backer of vanquished GOP Trump opponent Jeb Bush and owner of the San Francisco Giants. Great America PAC has spent about $2 million on Trump-themed ads, most of which are aimed at getting viewers to call in to pledge money to the group.
Another Trump group, Make America Number 1, is funded exclusively by hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, new filings show. He gave the group $2 million in July, making him Trump’s most generous supporter yet. Mercer was a major funder of Ted Cruz, Trump’s toughest opponent in the long primary race.
Mercer’s impact on Trump is evident: Not only is he a super PAC donor, but he also funds Breitbart News, whose leader Stephen Bannon became the campaign’s chief executive officer this week, and Cambridge Analytica, a data company now doing business with the campaign.
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES INCREASE SPENDING
Trump and Clinton accelerated their campaign spending last month, though the Republican did so far more dramatically.
New campaign documents show Trump’s campaign spent $18.5 million in July, more than double its expenditures a month earlier. Still, that’s far short of the $38 million Clinton’s campaign spent last month. In June, her campaign had spent about $34 million.
Clinton can afford to spend more: Her campaign brought in more than $52 million in July, compared to the roughly $37 million the Trump campaign netted. That amount includes a $2 million donation from Trump himself.
Clinton’s report shows her campaign’s work to bring small donors into the fold is paying off. Her Democratic primary rival, Bernie Sanders, had strong appeal online and had routinely trounced her on the small-money front. In July, contributors giving $200 or less accounted for $11.4 million of Clinton’s fundraising — roughly double the amount they gave her in June.
But even having raised less than Clinton overall, Trump outpaced her when it comes to small donors. Contributors giving $200 accounted for $12.7 million of his campaign fundraising.
29 responses to “Democratic donors step up efforts on Senate, Clinton bids”
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one criminal, Soros giving money to another criminal in Hillary, Interpol should go and arrest Soros and his son who gave 33 million to black lives matter and other rioters that did damage to other peoples property. sad for the liberal demoncats to get money from a world criminal
Lock him up.
the democrat party is praying the female felon makes it through the general election without another public collapse, seizure or breakdown from fatigue. it’s not a secret as to why the democrats have avoided putting the female felon on stages in debates or uncontrolled press conferences with independent reporters.
the female felon, when surprised by a loud noise or someone surprising her with a shouted question, reacts with seizure-like violent head wrenching. while her handlers ignore this behavior in public, her health is seriously deteriorating. her health is a legitimate concern in a race for presidency.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd4NH9jKNas
Your obsession with Mrs. Clinton’s health is bizarre. You routinely use lies to bolster your lousy arguments, but phantom illness is the best Trump supporters can come up with? Please…..
By the way, how is Mr. Trump’s health? He’s morbidly obese, which must be aggravating the terribly painful heel spurs (he can’t remember which foot, of course) that kept him out of Vietnam. Are they OK now?
And trump lumpy calls Hillary old, when he is one year older and wearing a lop-sided hair-do to cover up his bald head, or his baseball caps.
trumpy lumpy
Hillary does indeed have Health problems!Major ones! “Obsession’excluded ,this is fact! Be patient,the CIA will reveal this damaging information.But even though? This will Still make it hard for you to …….believe.
Lock her up.
Ever wonder why Crooked Hilliary takes days off?
Blood doping is the practice of boosting the number of red blood cells in the bloodstream in order to enhance athletic performance. Because such blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to the muscles, a higher concentration in the blood can improve an athlete’s aerobic capacity (VO2 max) and endurance.[1] Many methods of blood doping are illegal, particularly in professional sports.
so is Hillary, she is obese, her thighs are bigger than trumps stomach.
Blood doping is the practice of boosting the number of red blood cells in the bloodstream in order to enhance athletic performance. Because such blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to the muscles, a higher concentration in the blood can improve an athlete’s aerobic capacity (VO2 max) and endurance.[1] Many methods of blood doping are illegal, particularly in professional sports.
I thought You should know as it reflects on our possible next President
https://www.youtube.com/embed/BdNHf1g4ivA
Klastri and M truck. 2 mynah birds yakking away even before the sun comes up. Amazing the kind of supporters Crooked Hilliary has.
Hard to get a good nights sleep on the bus stop bench or under the viaduct. That’s what happens when you listen to Crooked Hilliary.
lol ^5
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! I like that Viaduct stuff ! Haaaaaaaaa! I needed that! Watch out though “The Mod Squad “( SA Moderation Team) Is out in full force.
We can’t elect and insane bigot as our president!
You got that right. Lock her up. Crooked Hillary and Obama abuses African Americans. Playing the race card has destroyed America.
Crooked Hilliary asserts that previous Secretaries of State Rice and Powell used personal emails to the extent she did.
More lies.
“This is a false argument. No other Secretary of State, including Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, used private email exclusively to conduct all government business and neither set up a private server inside their homes. Further, there is no proof either Powell or Rice shared classified, top secret information on a private email account.
Now in an exclusive interview with Fox News, former State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard is debunking the Clinton campaign narrative, exposing Clinton’s lies about security protocol and argues he would have also investigated her use of a private server.
“I would have been stunned had I been asked to send an email to her at a personal server, private address. I would have declined to do so on security grounds and if she had sent one to me, I probably would have started an investigation,” Krongard said.”
Of course, even assuming Powell made such a comment, he certainly did not have in mind that Hillary would establish a private server in her home, and Powell in his documented comments on the use of private email was clear to specify it was only for unclassified material. Hillary, of course, used it for both. And Powell didn’t operate a phony private charitable foundation to line the pockets of his family and a host of cronies during his tenure, manipulating American foreign policy to that end. If he had, he might have needed such a private server to keep his corruption secret and avoid jail, like Hillary.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/08/colin_powell_goes_under_the_clinton_bus.html#ixzz4Hzae4hDU
Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook
Lock her up.
Crooked Hilliary exhorts her loyal baa black sheep and blind mice to 2nd mortgage your homes, sell whatever assets you have including your homeless shelters. Do not send used tents. Redeem them for cash first. Instead of writing derogatory comments get out there on the road side and pick up cans and bottles and redeem them for Clinton Cash. She needs more bull poop attack ads to throw at the Southern Wall. So far nothing is sticking on the Teflon Don.
Smart people know, all you have to do is follow the MONEY TRAIL! The Democratic Super Pacs are pumping Ginormouse amounts of Money into the Hillary Campaign. VS the amounts Donald receives, a mere pauper in their eyes. Hillary supporters should be Livid,because after all,should she be elected (i doubt) Is she going to do “The Will Of The People” or be doing the will her Big Money “Fat Cat Friends…..you decide……Oh! Oh! Get a load of Harry Reid and their Super Pac.WOW!!! No wonder this guy is hanging on tooth and nail trying to hang on to his Senate seat! His net worth is in the Tens of Millions. Imagine how much money this guy gets from being a mere politician…….. One can only imagine.IMUA
Blood doping is the practice of boosting the number of red blood cells in the bloodstream in order to enhance athletic performance. Because such blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to the muscles, a higher concentration in the blood can improve an athlete’s aerobic capacity (VO2 max) and endurance.[1] Many methods of blood doping are illegal, particularly in professional sports.
Well, your ability to copy and paste the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article on blood doping three times in a row is certainly impressive but I’m not sure what the relevance here is.
The relevance is her low energy. I was suggesting she do this. 4 years ago almost to 9/11-12/2012 she said What difference at this point does it make.
Donors like George Soros want an elected President that would be more like , Queen Elizabeth 1, in my opinion evil and demeaning.
How many violent protests has George Soros financed? There are enough evil Demoncrats within the regular Democrats, that have already and will do any evil deed to get what they want. This is in my personal Opinion only.
How many Soros $$ has affected even the Hawaii Mayoral races?
Lock him up.
Governor John Bel Edwards (D)of Louisiana thanked Trump/Pence for their visit and support. Trump also made a $100,000 donation to the Church they visited.
Hillary said What difference at this point does it matter.
Trump gains ground against Clinton, tracking poll finds
Donald Trump has gained ground against Hillary Clinton, according to the latest findings from the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times national tracking poll of the presidential race.
The uptick for Trump follows a broad-based decline in early August and suggests a possible narrowing of the race.
Trump has regained some of ground he lost after the Democratic National Convention in late July, when he repeatedly criticized the Muslim American parents of a dead U.S. Army captain, and appeared to urge Russia to hack Clinton’s email.
As of Sunday, the tracking poll showed Trump at 45% and Clinton at 43%, within the survey’s margin of error. Those results are far closer than most other polls, which use different methodology and almost uniformly show Clinton ahead by several points.
The shift follows a shakeup last week at the top of the Trump campaign after weeks of turmoil. Campaign chairman Paul Manafort was ousted after his past work for pro-Kremlin figures in the Ukraine became a political liability.
Turnout is a key factor in any election, and the poll also asks if Clinton and Trump supporters plan to vote.
For the first time in three weeks, more Trump supporters said they planned to vote than Clinton supporters by a slight margin, 83%-82%.
One week ago, on August 14, 78% of Trump supporters planned to vote compared with 83% of Clinton supporters.
Separately, the poll also asks voters which candidate they think will win. That question has often shown greater ability to predict election outcomes than asking people who they will vote for, particularly when the election remains months away.
Clinton continues to lead voter expectations by a large margin, 54%-40%.
After the Republican National Convention last month, Trump had briefly narrowed the gap on that question, but Clinton rebounded sharply in mid-August and has held that lead.
Some analysts have suggested that the way the USC/L.A. Times Daybreak poll is weighted has shifted the results a few points in Trump’s favor.
Every poll weights results to make sure the survey sample matches known demographic facts. They thus are weighted to reflect accurate percentages of men and women or older and younger voters.
Each poll does that process differently, and until the votes are counted, there’s no way to know for sure which method was right.
The Daybreak tracking poll uses a different methodology than most election surveys.
Instead of randomly contacting a different set of people for each survey, it uses a panel of roughly 3,200 eligible voters, selected to be representative of the U.S. electorate. Those people are resurveyed continuously, roughly 300-400 per day.
As a result, shifts in the candidates’ standings reflect actual people changing their minds as opposed to variations in who responds from one survey to the next.
Using a 0-100 scale, the poll asks voters to estimate the chance that they will vote for Clinton, Trump or another candidate.
Each week, the poll has found that about three-quarters of the voters don’t significantly shift their preferences.