Despite a history of decrying dark money, Harris is now reaping the rewards of big, secret political donations. As a junior Democratic senator in 2019, Vice President Kamala Harris took direct aim at dark money, co-sponsoring election reforms that would have revealed the identities of the megadonors behind these secretive efforts to sway elections.
“It does not represent justice in America when dark money is fueling elections and when the few who have the greatest amount of wealth behind a veil without even presenting themselves or their names, manipulate and fuel the election process,” she said in a speech at the time. “We’ve got to take that money out of politics.”
But now, as her presidential campaign benefits from millions in contributions from secret donors — including a whopping $20 million donation from Democrat’s main dark-money group a week after she became the party’s presumed nominee — what is Harris saying about untraceable political spending?
So far this election cycle, not much.
During last week’s presidential debate, Harris and former President Donald Trump discussed hot-button topics including the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the war in Ukraine — but said nothing about the concealed political donations that have aided both presidential campaigns.
Behind the scenes, political committees supporting Democratic candidates have reported more than $100 million in dark-money contributions this election season, while committees supporting Republicans have reported similar amounts. According to OpenSecrets, which tracks campaign finance and lobbying data, dark-money groups are on track to contribute more money to this election than ever before.
At the same time, the Harris campaign is further obscuring the origins of its donations. Harris has yet to release the names of her “bundlers” — fundraisers who compile massive “bundles” of campaign checks from numerous donors.
But at the same time, Democratic lawmakers have been unwilling to take the necessary steps to pass such reforms — all while continuing to welcome massive checks from 501(c)(4)s.
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