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Writer's pictureAlex Kawa

Has Michael Bloomberg Bought the Endorsements of Members of Congress?



Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's (pictured left) campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination has been gaining steam as of late, with him rising in national polls, enough to qualify him for Wednesday night's final debate before this weekend's Nevada caucuses, a contest in which he will not be participating, and gaining the endorsements of 12 representatives of his party:


- Rep. Harley Rouda (D-CA)

- Rep. Juan Vargas (D-CA)

- Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA)

- Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL)

- Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL)

- Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA, pictured right)

- Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL)

- Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI)

- Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ)

- Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY)

- Rep. Max Rose (D-NY)

- Rep. Ben McAdams (D-UT)


In a War on the Swamp article published two weeks ago, it was discovered that Bloomberg had donated more than $1 million to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and one of its affiliates, collectively, just under a week before officially entering the race in November. As a result, the DNC changed the rules to qualify for the primary debates by eliminating the grassroots donor requirement, which largely favored Bloomberg, who has sworn off taking any campaign contributions whatsoever, opting instead to self-fund his campaign entirely. However, in addition to buying legitimacy with the DNC, has he also bought the support of the aforementioned Democratic representatives?


According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the former mayor has donated $5,600 to McBath's re-election campaign this year. Additionally, during the 2018 election cycle, he contributed $5,000,000 to the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), $1,540,727 to VoteVets.org, and $250,000 to Change Now PAC. LCV contributed to, with the exception of Meeks, all of the aforementioned candidates that election cycle, while VoteVets.org gave to Rose and Sherrill, and Change Now PAC donated to McBath and Rouda.


Not only has Bloomberg successfully bought legitimacy with the DNC in order to allow him a spot in the remaining debates, but, as his campaign contributions suggest, he has also bought legitimacy with many members of Congress. Many of these representatives ran for Congress promising real campaign finance reform, and rejecting corporate PAC money. However, as they have now endorsed a presidential candidate who, in one way or another, contributed to their campaigns, it appears that they have succumbed to the "I scratch your back, you scratch mine" mentality of Washington.

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