Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia has a problem raising money from West Virginia. So far, only 3% of his donations have come from the senator’s home state, meaning a mere five West Virginians have donated to Sen. Manchin’s campaign – FIVE.
Senator Claire McCaskill drew sharp criticism this week for her hypocrisy on dark money. At a town hall last week, she said this:
“If it doesn’t say ‘paid for by the candidate,’ and if there isn’t a disclaimer that says ‘I approve this message’ or my opponent approves this message, ignore it. Pay no attention to it. It’s probably not true.”
Fast forward to days later and a dark money “secretive Schumer PAC” made a $500,000 ad buy supporting her campaign. The ad lacks an ‘I approve this message’ disclaimer, which means Sen. McCaskill thinks Missourians should “pay no attention to it” because “it’s probably not true.”
Senators Bill Nelson, Jon Tester, Joe Donnelly, and Sherrod Brown received $10,000 each from the ultra-liberal Senator Elizabeth Warren.
It’s no surprise to see these senators getting support from their pal Sen. Warren, since they have sided with her in the Senate time and time again.
In addition to the $10,000, Sen. Nelson has a record of voting with Sen. Warren 92% of the time, showing just how extreme he’s become.
Super-liberal @elizabethforma already gave @SenBillNelson $10,000 this year. Is this why he votes with her 92% of the time? #sayfie @flapol pic.twitter.com/lLfQzgic6w
— Florida GOP (@FloridaGOP) April 20, 2017
While Sen. Tester has voted with the notorious partisan Sen. Warren 90% of the time, he is trying to fool his state into thinking he’s a moderate Democrat. If he’s such a moderate, why align himself with one of the most extreme liberals in the Senate?
Sen. Donnelly voted with Sen. Warren 84% of the time to earn his $10,000, but Hoosier values hardly match Sen. Warren’s extreme politics.
Sen. Brown is the biggest Sen. Warren ally of the $10K club, voting with her a whopping 97% of the time. Surely a state that went for President Trump by almost 8% would not appreciate such a reliably liberal senator.
In North Dakota, Senator Heidi Heitkamp is having a tough time adhering to her previous statements. In 2013, she said:
“When I go to Washington, I’m not going to be for any special interest; I’ll be for the interests of North Dakota.”
Since getting to Washington, Sen. Heitkamp has voted with Sen. Warren 84% of the time. The Massachussetts hardly represents the same interests as North Dakotan interests. In addition to that, Say Anything Blog revealed Sen. Heitkamp has broke a Q1 record in North Dakota: Most Special Interest Money Raised.
Take a look:
But the hypocrisy doesn’t end there. On March 3, Sen. Heitkamp said this:
“Billionaires outside North Dakota who don’t know anything about our state shouldn’t be able to impact North Dakotans’ opinions or how they vote through secret organizations that don’t have to disclose their donors,” Heitkamp said in a release reacting to the award. “It’s one example of the many problems with our campaign finance system, and it needs to change.”
Which is interesting given that 93.2% of her money raised in 2018 came from outside North Dakota.
Say Anything Blog said it best:
“Heitkamp clearly has no problem with out-of-state money as long as it’s flowing into her campaign.”
All of these problems Democrats from red states have arisen as National Democrats are facing their own money problems. The NRSC has not only beat our own records, but we’ve consistently outraised the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee all year, too.
January
We’re off to a strong start : “NRSC Outraises DSCC in January” https://t.co/VO61oK4bzB pic.twitter.com/d4s0w2u3V3
— The Senate Majority (@NRSC) February 21, 2017
February
NRSC raised $5.1 million last month – our best off-year February by far in 16 years. https://t.co/0KzhhMN6OR pic.twitter.com/9vamXMwbeS
— The Senate Majority (@NRSC) March 13, 2017
March
We have have some BIG news ($7 million big…) https://t.co/WAPNzr6MVb pic.twitter.com/TOE96gwt6T
— The Senate Majority (@NRSC) April 6, 2017
Having this many problems this early is not a good sign for Democrats. They’re in for a long election cycle.
Help us outraise the Democrats! Pitch in today so we can continue to build the foundation we need, so we can hold our majority in 2018: