Key Democratic Group Will Sit Out Midterm Elections
Priorities USA Action, the super
PAC now backing Hillary Clinton, won’t spend to help Democrats in the House and
Senate this year, a spokesperson confirms.
posted on February 5, 2014 at 9:32pm
EST
The Democratic Party’s biggest
super PAC, recently retooled as an early pro-Hillary Clinton
effort, will sit out the midterm elections this year.
A spokesman with the group, Priorities USA Action, confirmed to
BuzzFeed on Wednesday night that it would not be involved in House or Senate
campaigns.
“House Majority PAC and Majority PAC are doing everything right
and making a real difference. We fully support their efforts,” said the
spokesman, Peter Kauffmann, referring to the main groups supporting Democratic
congressional candidates.
Priorities USA, which
operates under loose campaign finance rules that allow it to raise and spend
unlimited sums, put $65 million behind Barack Obama in 2012.
Sources close to the group say its
leaders considered helping Democrats in House and Senate races approaching this
fall. The PAC’s principal financial backer, Hollywood magnate Jeffrey Katzenberg, has shown an
interest in one midterm candidate in particular: Alison Lundergan Grimes, the
Democrat gunning to unseat Sen. Mitch McConnell. Katzenberg, one of Obama’s
biggest bundlers, raised more than $1 million for Grimes on her first trip to California last year.
Sean Sweeney, the
former Obama aide who co-founded Priorities USA, said a year ago that the group
would likely let others, like House Majority PAC and Majority PAC, “take the
lead on House and Senate races.”
But Kauffmann’s comments Wednesday
night mark the first sure signal since the group’s relaunch last month that it
will steer clear of 2014 races.
Priorities USA will also take steps to ensure its Clinton fundraising
operation doesn’t interfere with the party during the midterms, according to a
Wall Street Journal report this week. The group, the article said, is
discussing a system in which it asks donors to hold off on making larger
contributions until after 2014.
After months of discussions, which
date back to as early as last spring, the political action committee announced
it would support Clinton
should she decide to make a second White House run in 2016. The group assembled
a new board of directors, headed by Jim
Messina, Obama’s campaign manager, and Jennifer
Granholm, the former governor of Michigan
who backed Clinton’s
first presidential bid in 2008. Priorities USA announced its new board in the
New York Times last month.
The PAC is one of several
Democratic groups — including Ready for
Hillary and American Bridge —
already aligned behind Clinton.
EMILY’s List, another PAC, has also
launched a polling effort under its “Madame President” project, an initiative
aimed at electing a woman to the White House in 2016.
Priorities USA Action
Priorities
USA Action was a super PAC supporting the 2012 Barack Obama presidential campaign, and is supporting the 2016 Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential
campaign.
Note: Hillary Rodham
Clinton is a potential candidate for the 2016 Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential campaign, and a principal
for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea
Clinton Foundation.
Susie Tompkins
Buell was a funder for the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, a contributor for Ready for Hillary, a contributor for the
American Bridge 21st Century, a contributor
for EMILY's List, and is a national
finance council member at Ready for
Hillary.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, a co-chair, national finance council at Ready for Hillary, was a contributor
for the Majority PAC, a contributor
for the American Bridge 21st Century,
and the chairman for the Foundation to
Promote Open Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank).
David
H. Romer is a senior fellow at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and a professor at the University of California,
Berkeley.
Jennifer M.
Granholm is a practitioner of law & public policy at the University of California,
Berkeley,
and a co-chair for Priorities USA Action.
Cyrus F.
Freidheim Jr. is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Mellody L. Hobson
is a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, the chairman for DreamWorks
Animation SKG Inc., and Jeffrey
Katzenberg was a guest at her 2013 wedding.
Jeffrey
Katzenberg was a guest at Mellody L.
Hobson’s 2013 wedding, and is the founder & CEO & director for DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.
Rahm
I. Emanuel is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, the Chicago (IL) mayor,
was the White House chief of staff for the Barack
Obama administration, and Sean
Sweeney was his senior adviser.
Sean
Sweeney was Rahm I.
Emanuel’s senior adviser, and is a co-founder for Priorities USA Action.
Priorities
USA Action was a super PAC supporting the 2012 Barack Obama presidential campaign, and is supporting the 2016 Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential
campaign.
Geoffrey Garin is
a strategist for Priorities USA Action,
and a strategic researcher for EMILY's
List.
James A. Messina
is a co-chair for Priorities USA Action,
was the White House chief of staff for the Barack
Obama administration, the national chief of staff for the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign,
the campaign manager for the 2012 Barack
Obama presidential campaign, and the chair, inaugural parade for the 2013 Barack Obama inaugural committee.
Penny S. Pritzker
was the national finance chair, fundraiser for the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign, a fundraiser, national
co-chair for the 2012 Barack Obama
presidential campaign, a contributor for the 2013 Barack Obama inaugural committee, Craig M. Robinson’s basketball coach to children's team, is married
to Bryan Traubert, a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Craig M. Robinson’s
basketball coach to children's team was Penny
S. Pritzker, and his sister is Michelle
Obama.
Bryan Traubert is
married to Penny S. Pritzker, and a
director at the National Park Foundation.
‘War’: Vets planning ‘Million Vet March on the Memorials’
against Obama (Past Research for Penny S. Pritzker, Bryan Traubert, and the National
Park Foundation)
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Ellen
R. Malcolm is a director at the National
Park Foundation, and the founder & chair for EMILY's List.
R.
Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Michelle
Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin
LLP, and her brother is Craig M.
Robinson.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Newton
N. Minow is a senior counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP, and a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
No comments:
Post a Comment