3 weeks ago
22
As Americans grow increasingly uneasy about billionaires steering federal policy (see: Elon Musk), Sen. Bernie Sanders is urging Democratic leaders to stop cozying up to their own wealthy donors.
In a letter obtained exclusively by The Washington Post, Sanders and seven Democratic senators call on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin to ban super PACs and “dark money” in Democratic primaries.
The message is clear: If Democrats want to fight the influence of right-wing oligarchs, they need to start by cleaning up their own house.
Elon Musk is definitely a problem.“The American people are disgusted with a corrupt political system that allows Elon Musk to spend $270 million to elect Donald Trump,” the senators wrote. “They want change. We can make change.”
The letter’s signers—which include Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Tina Smith of Minnesota, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Peter Welch of Vermont—argue that billionaires and corporate interests are playing an outsized role in shaping elections and policy, and leaving lasting damage in their wake.
“Right-wing billionaires have spent hundreds of millions of dollars funding super PACs to dominate in our primaries,” they wrote. “In addition to intervening in Democratic primaries, it is not uncommon for these same super PACS and dark money groups to fund general election campaigns where they work overtime to defeat Democrats. The result: they have defeated a number of excellent members in the House and Senate. That is unacceptable.”
They specifically call out pro-Israel groups like the Republican Jewish Coalition Victory Fund and the United Democracy Project PAC, which poured more than $30 million in 2024 primaries to unseat progressives such as former Reps. Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush. But the influence of outside groups is only part of the party. Before Kamala Harris even locked up the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination, deep-pocketed billionaire donors like Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings and former Meta CEO Sheryl Sandberg had already begun writing checks.
Still, their contributions were dwarfed by Musk’s. By the end of 2024, the tech billionaire had dumped $288 million into Trump’s campaign—a sum Musk later suggested helped tip the race in Trump’s favor.
While the senators acknowledge that overturning Citizens United—the Supreme Court ruling that opened the floodgates to unlimited outside spending—is a long-term project, they argue that Democrats can’t afford to wait on internal reforms. And they may be right: Americans are clearly uneasy with billionaire influence. A January poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that six in 10 U.S. adults think it’s a bad thing when the president relies on billionaires for policy advice. Just 12% think it’s a good thing.
That wariness could create an opening. During this year’s race for DNC chair, most candidates expressed support for limiting super PAC spending in Democratic primaries—at least rhetorically. Martin himself said he backed the idea “in spirit,” but admitted that “that’s about all the DNC chair can do.”
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Still, it might be time for Democratic leadership to take Sanders seriously. He’s one of the most popular elected officials in the country and is actively recruiting both Democrats and independents to run in red states as part of a working-class, anti-corporate movement. Alongside New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, he’s been rallying crowds on a “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, blasting Trump and Musk as twin faces of billionaire capture. This week, the tour heads to Texas.
The letter also taps into broader frustration with Democratic leadership, especially Schumer. In March, he and nine other Senate Democrats voted to pass Republican spending legislation, prompting backlash from the party’s progressive wing.
At the same time, the Democratic brand was cratering. Internal polling from Navigator Research, shared with Politico, found that most voters in competitive House districts felt Democrats weren’t focused on “people like me.” Only 27% of independents felt Democrats shared their priorities; 55% said the party didn’t.
Given all that, maybe this is Sanders’ moment—and maybe the path forward for Democrats starts with breaking up with the billionaires they claim to oppose.
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