Sanders and Warren Aren’t 100% Grassroots Funded

Washington Post: “Sanders and Warren say they’re running presidential campaigns funded ‘100%’ by grass-roots donors. It’s a big claim with no wiggle room. Money is fungible, so it’s an artifice to claim that money from wealthy donors last time around isn’t being used this time around. The key here is that Sanders and Warren define their presidential campaigns as entirely grass-roots-funded because of their self-imposed restrictions: no hobnobbing with rich donors in closed events and no PAC money, for example.”

“But Warren held high-dollar fundraisers for her 2018 Senate run, and then transferred $10.4 million from that campaign account to her presidential committee. Her Senate run raised $6 million from donors who gave $1,000 or more, and she also took some PAC contributions. Sanders in 2015 sought and received big checks from wealthy donors. Sanders’s 2020 committee so far has gotten $4.6 million from his prior presidential campaign. These are omissions worthy of Two Pinocchios. As a share of total fundraising, however, Sanders was less dependent than Warren on high-dollar contributions in his previous campaign.”