Democrat Senate Candidate Mark Kelly Uses Loophole to Accept Corporate Money

Since the start of his campaign, Mark Kelly has paid lip service to the “no corporate PAC” money pledge and this last quarter of fundraising was no different. The Free Beacon reported today that his Q1 haul “included nearly $75,000 in transfers from other PACs—$21,500 of which came from committees fueled by money from corporate PACs, including one associated with a company in which Kelly holds financial stakes.”

Free Beacon broke down the contributions to show the transfer of corporate money including: 

• “$10,000 donation from Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (D., Ariz.) Getting Stuff Done PAC during the first quarter. Sinema’s leadership PAC is primarily funded by dozens of corporate PACs, including PACs associated with Goldman Sachs, Google, JP Morgan Chase, and Visa, its filings show.”
• “$2,500 from Sen. Patrick Leahy’s (D., Vt.) Green Mountain PAC. Leahy’s PAC has hauled in tens of thousands from the corporate PACs of Comcast, Google, Boeing, Microsoft, and others.”
• “$5,000 from Sen. Mark Warner’s (D., Va.) Forward Together PAC, which has received tens of thousands from corporate PACs this cycle. A $2,500 donation was passed from Sen. Mazie Hirono’s (D., Hawaii) Pineapple PAC, also awash in corporate PAC contributions. Rep. Karen Bass’s (D., Calif.) Sea Change Leadership PAC, which received money from Google’s and AT&T’s corporate PACs in 2020, gave $500 to Kelly’s committee.”

Despite his self-imposed ban, he continues to find ways around it. Exactly one year ago, Roll Call highlighted “thousands of dollars from business executives and lobbyists during the first three months of the year, raising questions about how ‘no corporate PAC’ pledge candidates can actually separate themselves from special interests.” 

Kelly has also personally benefited from corporate money for years, making $1.8 million from speaking engagements sponsored by Goldman Sachs, Optum, and the Mortgage Bankers Association.