Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said on Thursday that she will not call on a Super PAC supporting her to back down. The presidential candidate reasoned that it wouldn’t be fair because nearly all of the other candidates enjoy support from Super PACs.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Warren said, “If all the other candidates want to get rid of Super PACs, count me in. I’ll lead the charge. But that’s how it has to be, it can’t be the case that a bunch of people keep them and two don’t.”
.@ewarren NOT calling on the Super PAC backing her to stand down.
— Jess Bidgood (@jessbidgood) February 20, 2020
“If all the candidates want to get rid of super pacs, count me in, I’ll lead the charge. But that’s how it has to be. It can’t be the case that a bunch of people keep them and one or two don’t,” she says in Vegas.
A Super PAC is the term for a massive political action committee that is barred from coordinating with a campaign or contributing to a campaign under FEC rules. They have become increasingly powerful after a 2010 federal court case opened the doors for the massive organizations.
The Super PAC associated with Warren, called Persist, is running a commercial boosting the Massachusetts senator in Nevada as voters there prepare to go to the polls.
Warren has previously been critical of Super PACs, saying on a debate stage in New Hampshire, “Everyone on this stage except Amy and me is either a billionaire or is receiving help from PACs that can do unlimited spending.”
The other progressive in the race who has attacked money in politics is Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). However, Sanders enjoys support from a group called Our Revolution that can raise unlimited amounts of money, but unlike a Super PAC is not required to disclose donors, making it a dark money group.
Sanders and Warren have both attacked former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg for taking money from big donors and for holding glitzy fundraisers, which Warren has sworn off. Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle, President Donald Trump enjoys massive support from a number of Super PACs
