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Wednesday marks a momentous transition of power in the United States, as President Joe Biden is sworn into office with a blue majority in the U.S. Senate. Tipping the balance are Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, who prevailed in a tight runoff election in Georgia earlier this month.
The Georgia runoff had been a focal point after Biden’s victory in November, with political campaigns on a spending blitz exceeding $300 million since Nov. 3, according to the website Open Secrets. Campaigns were fueled by donations from across the country, including more than $460,000 from residents in Mountain View.
Filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) show significant contributions from residents across the city to five political action committees that honed in on Georgia. Fair Fight, a PAC spearheaded by Stacey Abrams, received $113,430 from Mountain View residents last year. Other groups that ran ads and spurred voter participation include the
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), which received $168,724 from city residents, and the Lincoln Project, which received $51,764.
Mountain View residents also donated $27,138 to the Stop Republicans PAC, along with $13,792 to the Georgia Senate Victory Fund.
Residents also poured money directly into candidates’ campaigns as well, contributing nearly $65,000 to Ossoff’s campaign and $21,000 to Warnock’s campaign, according to federal filings. The donations came long before the runoff election.
Though FEC data indicate Mountain View had contributed $363,430 to the Fair Fight campaign last year, $250,000 of that came from Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and a Palo Alto resident. His filing listed his mailing address as 650 Castro Street, a downtown commercial building.
The contributions reflect Mountain View’s progressive streak and deep support for Democratic candidates. In the record-turnout election in November last year, 83% of the city had voted for President Joe Biden, compared to 73% in Santa Clara County and 65% across California. Mountain View residents also leaned left on state propositions related to criminal justice and new tax initiatives.
Campaign contributions didn’t slow down after the November election, and instead accelerated. Mountain View residents donated $122,310 to the five left-leaning PACs between Nov. 3 and Dec. 31, the vast majority going to Fair Fight.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with additional campaign donation information on Jan. 21, 2021.
Re “Mountain View residents poured $370K into campaigns focused on Georgia runoff” I am certainly one who contributed and I think Stacy Abrams did an amazing job of making up all the voters Kemp threw off the roles and then added a bunch to boot! However, I am more convinced than ever that we Bay Area progressives should stop wasting our time and emotional investment in supporting candidates in Red states and spend it on a “No-Fault-Divorce-Seccesion” amendment. This would provide a fair and orderly path for leaving the US. We’re more than big enough to go it alone and our values and economic needs don’t align well with Trumpistan. Even after a Biden/Harris victory, do we want to go back and try to reconcile with people who believe it is in any way acceptable to vote for a creature like Trump? It would be like going back to an abusive lover! Cal Exit: California out of US, US out of California!
It’s buying the election. Nearly half a million from Mountain View, CA? Did they move Mountain View to Georgia, or is this out-of-staters meddling in local elections?
It’s important that every state has a voice. This practice should be prevented, not rewarded. Why should rich Silicon Valley residents decide Georgia senatorial races? It’s very undemocratic.
In this last 2 decades – the Koch brothers spent $$,$$$,$$$ (tens of millions I think) on statehouse races trying and successfully controlling much of the congressional (House) redistricting mainly done by ‘politicizing’ that effort in state legislatures.
That GERRYMANDERING is why the math in the House membership is so skewed toward Republican rather than the clear and substantial Democratic Party registration/voting record that it should, by all rights, represent.
Out-Of-State Money.
Ah – “succession” ? NO THANKS! One of the last political things (in the world) I would want was to be living in a small country, next to a 10X bigger COUNTRY that was completely under the control of RUMPITE types.
Think of Czech or Polish history.
> It’s buying the election.
That’s funny, particularly in a post Citizens United world!
So – you’re for Public Financing of all federal elections, amiright?
Flat out financing like AZ and MA, or even hybrids like this: https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/reform-money-politics/public-campaign-financing
Four points about MV financing Democrats in Georgia: 1. Enactment of Biden’s agenda will help turn the House Republican in 2022. 2. The lawlessness of Biden’s immigration orders is anti-democratic; suspending and reversing laws passed by Congress and favored by large majorities of Americans. 3. Every problem we have will be made far worse by an amnesty of 14+ million, who are then allowed to sponsor tens of millions more. 4. Facilitating this huge growth in US population makes a lie of any claim of concern about global climate change.
The support, by average Mountain View residents, for Democratic Senatorial candidates in Georgia was heartwarming, and it helped balance the money spent for the Republicans. But the real story is the dozens, maybe hundreds of local volunteers who called and sent postcards to Georgia voters to remind them to vote and, during this pandemic, explaining how they could vote.
Typical campaigns focus on high-propensity voters, but the beauty of the Georgia campaigns is that the Democrats prevailed by getting historically disempowered people, such as rural black people, to vote. There is a lesson there for the rest of the country.