As Democratic National Committee members prepare to vote on the next party chair in February, leading progressive advocacy groups on Tuesday launched an open letter to candidates to warn that Democratic leaders “must decisively show that the party is for the people — not billionaires or corporations.”
To do that, said the Sunrise Movement and several allied organizations, the winning candidate must pledge to revive the Obama-era ban on corporate lobbyist donations to the DNC and to ban super PAC spending in Democratic primaries.
The groups, which also include Gen-Z for Change, Justice Democrats, and the Green New Deal Network, are calling on candidates to sign the “People, Not Billionaires” pledge.
The committee is voting on the new chair on February 1, days after President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office and three months after the Democratic Party suffered devastating losses in the federal elections.
“The influence of corporate money in the Democratic Party is undermining Democrats’ ability to win elections,” said Aru Shiney-Ajay, executive director of the Sunrise Movememt. “It’s time for the Democratic Party to represent everyday Americans and return power to the people.”
As a presidential candidate in 2008, Barack Obama introduced a ban on DNC donations from corporate lobbyists and PACs, promising, “We are going to change how Washington works.”
The restriction was rolled back in 2016, angering economic justice and pro-democracy advocates who warned the move was “out of touch with the clear public rejection of the role of political money in Washington,” as Democracy 21 founder Fred Wertheimer told The Washington Post at the time.
On Tuesday, the Sunrise Movement said reinstating the ban on lobbyist and PAC donations is essential for the Democrats to “decisively show that the party is for the people — not billionaires or corporations.”
The pledge reads:
I pledge to build a party that delivers for everyday people and fights to end the corrosive influence of big money in our politics. I will work to ensure that billionaire donors cannot shape the Democratic party or Democratic party primaries.
I will revive President Obama’s ban on contributions from corporate lobbyists and PACs to the DNC.
I will use every tool at my disposal to ban SuperPAC spending in Democratic primaries, including: (a) forming and chairing a committee of DNC members to investigate how to end SuperPAC influence in Democratic primaries; (b) I will urge and support state Democratic parties to ban SuperPAC spending over $5,000 in Democratic primaries (c) I will cut ties between the DNC and any donors or consultants that work with those SuperPACs.
With super PACs being “bankrolled by oil CEOs, crypto moguls, and GOP billionaires like Elon Musk,” said Sunrise, the wealthiest people and corporations in the country are being given “free rein to buy our elections — and defeat candidates who represent the needs of working people.”
Efforts to ban super PAC spending in primaries will ensure that “candidates who represent the voices of working people” have a chance of winning the support of voters, “rather than being undermined” by wealthy groups.
The progressive think tank Data for Progress found in a poll in December that 70% of all voters — and 80% of Democrats — support a ban on super PAC spending in Democratic primaries. Three-quarters of voters said that without such spending, elected officials would be “more responsive to their voters.”
“The Democratic Party must be the party of the people — not billionaires or corporations,” said Shiney-Ajay. “Young people are organizing for a future where our democracy works for us, not the wealthy few.”
Candidates for the DNC chairmanship include Ben Wikler, Wisconsin Democratic Party chair; Ken Martin, chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party; former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley; and former presidential candidate Marianne Williamson.
Progressive lawmakers including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) have spoken out in recent months about corporate and super PAC spending, with Sanders saying in August, “If you’re serious about the power of money in politics, you can say today, sorry, no super PACs allowed in primaries.”
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