WASHINGTON – Elizabeth Warren may have said “no” to billionaires, but many are saying yes to her.
A review of Warren’s campaign donations to her presidential and Senate campaigns reveal that she’s received donations from more than 30 billionaires during her time in politics.
Christopher Sacca, a venture capitalist who appeared on “Shark Tank”, gave $2,800 to Warren in May.
The 2020 Democratic presidential candidate also netted two $2,500 contributions from GitHub founder Tom Preston-Werner’s wife, Theresa, in June. That same month Susan Pritzker, wife of Hyatt heir Nicholas Pritzker II, donated $2,500 to Warren.
The donations run from 2011 to 2019 and include contributions to Warren’s presidential and Senate campaigns. Most of the individual billionaires are giving at or near the maximum contribution limit, which currently is $2,800 for the primary and $2,800 for the general election for a total for $5,600.
Warren has sworn off ritzy big-dollar fundraisers and says she won’t be swayed by wealthy business interests. She stays for hours after her rallies to take selfies with her supporters, which translates into social media buzz and momentum for small-dollar online giving.
“This is a moment for all of the Democratic nominees as they come into the race to say, in a Democratic primary, we are going to link arms and we’re going to say grassroots funding,” Warren told MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show” in January. “No to the billionaires, no to the billionaires, whether they are self-funding or whether they’re funding PACs. We are the Democratic Party and that’s the party of the people.”
A pillar of Warren’s campaign is vowing to impose a new tax on the wealthy: a 2% annual tax on assets above $50 million and a 3% tax on assets above $1 billion. She pitches it as just a few extra pennies on the dollar for the uber-rich and it’s become a rallying cry at her events, with the crowd shouting “2 cents!”
While her campaign is powered by small-dollar donors, her willingness to accept checks from billionaires is a distinction that hasn’t been lost on her opponents.
“Bernie is proud to be the only candidate running to defeat Donald Trump who is 100% funded by grassroots donations — both in the primary and in the general,” Bernie Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir said when announcing the candidate’s fundraising haul.
Sanders’ campaign proudly says “not a single billionaire has donated to our campaign.” It is promoting “Billionaires Should Not Exist” stickers and posted an anti-endorsement list of billionaires who have bashed Sanders. One of them is entertainment mogul Haim Saban, who gave $5,400 to Warren in 2018 for her Senate campaign.
Forbes looked at big-money donations in the 2020 cycle in August and found that Pete Buttigieg had the most billionaire donors so far at 23, followed by Sen. Cory Booker with 18, Sen. Kamala Harris with 17, Sen. Michael Bennet at 15 and former Vice President Joe Biden at 13. Warren had three. Sanders had none.
Warren transferred more than $10 million from her Senate campaign to her presidential campaign. Federal records show that she got Senate support from David Geffen, co-founder of DreamWorks, John Tu, president of Kingston Technology Corporation, philanthropist George Soros, Stewart and Lynda Resnick, owners of The Wonderful Company, and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.
Tom Steyer, the hedge fund manager, gave $5,400 to Warren in 2018 before launching his own White House bid. Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, also gave to Warren. Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff gave $5,400 to Warren in 2017, before he was getting pressure to stop his software contract with US Customs and Border Protection over President Trump’s family separation policies.
“If you look up ‘fraud’ in the dictionary, you’ll see a photo of Elizabeth Warren,” RNC spokesman Steve Guest said. “From lying about her heritage to get ahead in her career to lying about her campaign being ‘100% grassroots funded,’ Warren’s deceit knows no bounds.”
The Warren campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Sanders’ campaign manager Shakir said it comes down to whether standing up to billionaires is a “core conviction” rather than just rhetoric to win an election.
“I would argue to you there is no candidate with more credibility on that than Bernie Sanders,” Shakir told The Post.
“You have never seen Bernie Sanders over the course of his lifetime, try to make an explicit outreach to a billionaire to solicit their money. Or to make a phone call or to kiss their ass in any other way.”