The Debate: Campaign Finance
Updated: Oct 25, 2022
Campaign finance reform remains one of my top priorities in Congress, and I'm one of the only Congressional candidates in the country who has refused to take corporate PAC money.
I lead by example in refusing to be bought.
Matt Gaetz again stands in total opposition to my record with campaign finance, but his attempts to lie to the public at the debate shocked those familiar with his campaign's fundraising history.
For context, a 2010 Supreme Court case ruled on a case in which a conservative PAC named Citizens United sued the United States claiming that imposing limits on how much money a person or company could contribute to campaigns constituted a violation of the first amendment. The Supreme Court egregiously ruled in Citizens United's favor.
The Citizens United ruling established personhood for companies and equated money as speech. Since then, dark money through the form of PACs and the even-more-nefarious SUPER PAC's has plagued politics.
Matt Gaetz lied to the people at our debate last Thursday and falsely painted himself as a "leader" on campaign finance reform, even though he's passed no legislation for such reform in his six years in Congress.
Gaetz falsely claimed his record with campaign finance is "pristine," but one of the PACs he took money from was the Citizens United PAC!
Matt Gaetz lied when he said he has not taken PAC or lobbyist money. Since his first campaign for Congress, Gaetz has taken more than $630,000 from dark money organizations and PACs.
Here are just a few of the PACs Matt Gaetz has taken money from: NextEra Energy (Florida Power and Light) AT&T Inc. PAC Sprint Corporation PAC General Dynamics PAC COX Enterprises PAC Delta Airlines PAC American Bankers PAC Comcast Corporation PAC Walmart Inc PAC T-Mobile Corporation PAC
Matt Gaetz also tried to mock our campaign for only taking individual donations, but we've raised more money from individual people than he did in 2016 when he first ran for Congress.
Gaetz’ contributions from individuals in 2016 totaled $707,610.
We’ve already raised $755,438 in individual contributions and still have two weeks left.
In 2016, Matt Gaetz raised less than $40,000 from small donors.
We’ve raised $466,314 from small donors so far. Here's Matt's financial breakdown from 2016: Total amount from large donors: $668,425 Total amount from small donors: $39,185 Total amount from PACs: $230,250 Total amount from himself: $117,590
Here's OUR financial breakdown (so far) Total amount from large donors: $309,214 Total amount from small donors: $466,314 Total amount from PACs: $5,000 (Teamsters) Total amount from candidate: $0
To see real change in campaign finance reform, vote for the candidate whose campaign is funded by the people, not the PACs, companies and organizations responsible for our atrocious campaign finance laws.