Crowdpac Fund For 2020 Democratic Nominee Raises $74K In 5 Days
Top row announced candidates: Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Julian Castro, Tulsi Gabbard. Bottom row unannounced: Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke, Sherrod Brown, Cory Booker, and Joe Biden (Official Government Photos)
Over the last few months, we’ve seen efforts like “Draft Beto” try and raise grassroots funding for possible presidential Democratic candidates. Now, a new fundraising campaign called #ShutdownTrump is raising money for the eventual Democratic nominee in 2020. It’s the first of its kind. Rather than endorse a specific candidate up front, the campaign seeks to let the primary process play out and raise a fund for the Democrat who wins. Before its official launch on Wednesday morning, the campaign had already raised over $74,000 from 243 donors over five days. That is almost four times as much as the $20,000 “Draft Beto” reportedly raised over the last month.
The campaign was started by Nancy Levine and Tara Dublin in collaboration with Crowdpac. Nancy Levine spoke to me about what they’re trying to achieve with this campaign:
“I’ve pledged to vote for whichever candidate wins the Democratic nomination. Other people on Twitter have said the same. So I thought this would be a way to galvanize opposition to Trump and beat him at his own game – raising money. It’s important to get corporate donations out of candidates’ pockets. So this campaign allows individuals to contribute any amount – to ensure that Democrats defeat Trump in 2020. The stakes are too enormous to ignore.”
(Graphic from the #ShutdownTrump Crowdpac campaign)
Levine went on to tell me that she was motivated by the fact President Trump was using the shutdown he started as an opportunity to fundraise for his campaign while 800,000 federal workers go without pay:
“Trump has been soliciting donations for his campaign, selling “faux bricks” for $20 each, at the expense of furloughed federal workers. This is unconscionable in my opinion. Trump keeps pandering to his xenophobic base. But his motivations are entirely self-serving and corrupt. A wall is unnecessary and ineffective. He’s using the idea of “the wall” and the government shutdown to fund his own re-election campaign. Trump’s campaign manager Brad Parscale was quick to say how Trump’s brick-selling program was attracting “record donations.” I’ve written, tweeted, signed petitions, called my reps in Congress. But how do we really counter Trump? He has raised more than $100 million for his re-election campaign already. I was inspired by the campaign to fund Senator Susan Collins’ opponent. Like many people, I’ve felt outraged but powerless to fight Trump. This is a way to make a real difference.”
The campaign plays by FEC rules, of course. The maximum donation a supporter can pledge is $2,700. The fundraising effort’s initial goal is $800,000, but if it surpasses that goal, Levine says they will continue their fundraising efforts all the way until the eventual Democratic nominee receives the money.
Full disclosure: Nancy Levine has contributed articles to Rantt Media.
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