On the 2020 campaign trail, as Kamala Harris polled at just 10% to Joe Biden‘s 30% in the Democratic presidential primary, the then-California senator made a pledge to voters.
“Our campaign is not taking a dime from corporate PACs or lobbyists — and that was a very deliberate choice,” Harris, the soon-to-be vice president to President Joe Biden, told supporters in a February 2019 email. “Yes, it means we are leaving money on the table. But that’s ok with me.”
Campaign finance filings and Senate lobbying disclosures, however, tell a different story: Harris, through her then-presidential campaign and other committees, accepted donations during the 2020 race from both lobbyists and PACs affiliated with corporations. Now, as Harris assumes control over the tens of millions of dollars in Biden’s war chest following his decision not to run for reelection, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is being boosted once more by corporate-funded PACs and K Street, records show.
“It’s not a very solid pledge, because the money has so many avenues to flow into elections now,” said Craig Holman, an ethics lobbyist for the progressive Public Citizen think tank.
“I wish everybody would take the pledge not to take corporate and lobbyist money. But it’s going to get in elections no matter what,” added Holman, who said the Supreme Court’s landmark 2010 Citizens United v. FEC ruling “opened up the floodgates” for special interests to fuel campaigns.
Harris’s willingness to take the donations will likely open her up to hypocrisy charges from Republicans, who, since Biden’s announcement on Sunday, have accused Harris of lying about the octogenarian president’s health. Biden has only briefly appeared publicly since dropping out of the 2024 race and is slated to deliver an Oval Office address Wednesday evening. He has been isolating at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, after his doctor, Kevin O’Connor, said he tested positive for COVID-19 a week ago. Biden, who saw Democrats rapidly turn on him after a lackluster debate performance in June against Trump, tested negative for the virus this Tuesday.
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