"Are we on the side of our donors?": DNC race puts spotlight on money and "good billionaires"

-- Shares Facebook Twitter Reddit Email The election for the next chair of the Democratic National Committee is the first major milestone in the party’s path forward after the 2024 election. While the leading candidates largely agree in reorienting towards winning back working-class voters and expanding support for state and local parties, the chair candidates have not committed to broader structural reform for the party, like banning PAC money in primaries. On Feb.

1, the 448 voting members of the DNC will convene to elect a new party chair, who is charged with promoting the party's agenda and managing the 2028 presidential primaries. Perhaps the biggest question, though, is how a new leader will or will not transform the party's finances amid a debate over the role of billionaire money in politics. At the DNC candidate forum in Detroit earlier this month, each candidate described different priorities, like reinvesting in the party’s infrastructure, restoring the party’s identity, reconnecting with the working class and ramping up legal battles against racial gerrymandering.



Related Progressives plan wave of Democratic primary challenges ahead of 2026 midterm elections With Democrats out of power and without a clear leader of the party, the chair will also play an important role in making the case for Democrats and their policies over at least the next two years, according to David Hogg, a March for Our Lives activist and candidate for DNC vice chair. “The chair is one of the main leaders of our parties when we don't have a president,” Hogg told Salon. “We need them to be out there highlighting what Democrats are doing.

” The importance of their role as the party spokesperson is something where the candidates agree: The party chair needs to be out there making the case for Democrats year-round and across the country. The leading candidates, Ken Martin, the Minnesota party chair, and Ben Wikler, the Wisconsin party chair, have both run on commitments to implement a 50-state organizing strategy and have received glowing endorsements regarding their ability to manage the party in terms of administration and organizing. One of the areas where chair candidates have been less outspoken, however, is in how the party is funded — and, specifically, the party's relationship to billionaire donors and interest groups.

At last week's candidate forum, both Martin and Wikler were pressed about how they would approach funding from billionaires if elected chair of the DNC. “Are we on the side of our donors, or are we on the side of the people that are leaving our party because they don’t feel like we’re fighting for them?” Martin responded. “We will not take money from people who do not share our values as the Democratic Party.

” We need your help to stay independent Subscribe today to support Salon's progressive journalism Martin went on to say that it’s important for voters to feel like “we’re not taking money from the people that are working against them,” adding: “There are a number of billionaires in this country that have no interest in helping the working class in this country.” Asked who, specifically, he would not take money from, Martin said: “There’s too many to name.” “There are a lot of good billionaires out there that have been with Democrats, who share our values, and we will take their money, but we’re not taking money from those bad billionaires,” Martin said.

Wikler responded to the question by saying: “We’re not going to take money from people who are actively union busting. We’re not going to take money from the people who funded Stop the Steal.” He added, “If they try to donate we’re going to send that money back.

” When the whole panel was asked whether any of the candidates would support a blanket ban on campaign contributions from tech executives — the same class of billionaires mentioned by former President Joe Biden in his farewell address as forming an American oligarchy — none of the candidates would commit. While declining money from the same billionaires and interest groups that fund Republicans would be an improvement, Denae Ávila-Dickson, a spokesperson for the Sunrise Movement, told Salon that this commitment is insufficient if the party truly wants to prioritize the interest of voters over donors, who she says have a "corrosive influence" on the party. The Sunrise Movement has been leading a campaign to pressure the next DNC chair to ban PAC spending in primaries and to revive the Obama-era ban on corporate donations to the DNC.

"We need to see a much stronger commitment [from] the DNC chair committing to banning super PAC spending in party primaries," Ávila-Dickson said. “What we saw in 2024 is the same donors who are giving big to Republican causes and supporting Donald Trump, including Elon Musk, are interfering in Democratic primaries to try to elect their chosen candidate.” We need your help to stay independent Subscribe today to support Salon's progressive journalism The highest profile example of this phenomenon was when the American Israel Public Affairs Committee spent millions to oust incumbents like Rep.

Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., and Rep.

Cori Bush, D-Mo. However, Ávila-Dickson explained, this is far from the only example. The crypto industry, for example, was among the biggest spenders in the 2024 election and deployed millions to elevate Democrats friendly to the crypto industry over those more hawkish on regulation in the primaries .

For example, they pumped $3.4 million into Rep. Julie Johnson's, D-Texas, bid in Texas's 32nd District.

“It is no coincidence that Donald Trump and his allies are making it a priority to promote the crypto industry,” Ávila-Dickson said. “It’s deeply dangerous for Democrats to claim to be the party of working people while having elected officials who are putting their needs above the needs of their constituents.” Rep.

Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, is another good example of a Democrat who was elevated by special interests, winning his 2022 primary against Jessica Cisneros by fewer than 200 votes after receiving considerable support from the oil and gas industry. Now, Cuellar, who has voted with Republicans on matters affecting the oil and gas industry during his time in Congress, is under indictment for charges of bribery and acting as a foreign agent. He has denied wrongdoing.

“I think what we’re asking for is twofold: one we’re calling for this because we believe it's what's right. We believe that billionaire donors shouldn't shape the Democratic party otters should shape the party,” Ávila-Dickson said. “Two: We believe it’s what is needed to win elections and defeat Donald Trump.

” Usamah Andrabi, a spokesperson for the Justice Democrats, told Salon that his organization, which has helped elect progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

, backed the Sunrise Movement's commitment because “We cannot continue to pretend that this is a war between good billionaires and evil billionaires.” “Instead of just talking about how we can talk differently we need to act differently,” Andrabi said. “We can either continue to go down the same path that we have been going down or we can make a radical change in how this party works and who it works for.

If we don't make this change we will continue to lose elections and lose to fascism in this country.” Read more about this topic “An honest broker”: Wisconsin Democrat "generates excitement" in race for DNC chair Who's Ken Martin? Supporters say the Minnesota Democrat and would-be DNC chair is ready for battle “It’s time to clean up shop”: Justice Democrats vow primary challenges against establishment Dems By Russell Payne Russell Payne is a staff reporter for Salon. His reporting has previously appeared in The New York Sun and the Finger Lakes Times.

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