‘Shouldn’t Be Controversial’: Calls Grow for DNC to Ban Dark Money in Primaries

At the tail-end of a primary season that has seen torrents of dark money pour into districts across the U.S. to smear and defeat progressive candidates, the Democratic National Committee is facing mounting pressure to prohibit such spending in future elections, with supporters arguing such a ban would help jumpstart the process of cleaning up the nation’s corrupt political process.

With the DNC scheduled to convene in Maryland later this week for its summer meeting, a group of more than 30 committee members spearheaded by Nevada Democratic Party Chair Judith Whitmer will demand approval of a resolution barring “the use of ‘dark money’ funding during any and all Democratic primary elections.”

In an interview with The Nation last week, Whitmer warned that the “avalanche” of dark money is growing so large that voters are losing “their right to choose their own candidates.”

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) has called Whitmer’s resolution “courageous” and declared that “any DNC member who truly believes in our slogan ‘people over politics’ should vote” in favor.

Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Nation‘s editor and publisher, argued in a column for the Washington Post on Tuesday that “passage of Whitmer’s resolution shouldn’t be controversial.”

“No one can doubt that action is imperative,” vanden Heuvel wrote. “According to the nonpartisan research group OpenSecrets, dark money topped $1 billion in the 2020 presidential race. This year, the Wesleyan Media Project reported, the sources that did not disclose, or only partially disclosed, their donors purchased nearly 60% of all ads in Democratic House primaries.”

“Democrats in both the House and the Senate voted overwhelmingly for H.R. 1, the sweeping voting-rights bill introduced in 2021, which included strong campaign finance elements,” vanden Heuvel added. “President Biden campaigned for its passage. That bill faced failure, but now, the Democratic National Committee can take action to clean its own house. It should not fail this test.”

Several high-profile progressive lawmakers including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)—the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus—recently endorsed the idea of a dark money ban in Democratic primaries after watching progressive candidates lose congressional races that were inundated by super PAC cash, which is often difficult to trace due to the country’s tattered campaign finance laws.

Originally published at Commondreams.org.