(José Niño, Headline USA) Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-TX., insists she refuses corporate PAC money in her current campaign. Federal filings tell a different storm, according to a report by The Intercept.
“In this Senate race I have not taken any corporate PAC money,” Crockett told Texas journalist Tashara Parker last month. “People don’t know that because my report hasn’t come out yet. But they will.”
However, her most recent campaign filings with the Federal Election Commission reveal she transferred at least $26,500 in donations from corporate PACs to her Senate campaign from her House campaign on December 19. The transfers included contributions from CVS, Home Depot, AT&T and Wells Fargo.
“It relies on technicality that you can say ‘I’m not accepting contributions to my Senate campaign from corporate PACs,'” stated Brendan Glavin, director of insights at government transparency group OpenSecrets. “But they can’t say that there’s no corporate money flowing through her Senate campaign, because it’s obviously not true.”
Crockett’s position on corporate PAC money has evolved throughout her political career. Cryptocurrency PACs spent millions supporting her 2022 congressional campaign, and she has accepted more than $315,000 from corporate PACs affiliated with crypto, defense, insurance, pharmaceutical and banking industries since 2023, per The Intercept. The Texas Tribune reported that Crockett pledged to reject such cash while running against state Rep. James Talarico in the Democratic Senate primary, which takes place in less than three weeks.
“As I understand it, it looks like Rep. Crockett didn’t have a hard and fast personal policy about rejecting corporate PAC money for her House campaigns. Now, as she runs for Senate, she’s drawing a different line,” said Michael Beckel, director of money in politics reform at Issue One, a nonprofit working on campaign finance reform.
“Even if they’ve benefited from dark money or corporate PAC money in the past, lawmakers who stand up to a broken campaign finance system should be cheered,” Beckel stated. “That said, if politicians say they are taking steps to fight the broken campaign finance system, voters want them to walk the walk.”
Speaking to Parker, Crockett suggested questions about her corporate PAC support distracted from the party’s goal to elect a Democratic senator from Texas, according to a report by NOTUS. She also criticized opponent Talarico, who pledges to reject corporate PAC money but whose last campaign received substantial funding from a casino PAC bankrolled by Republican megadonor Miriam Adelson, per The Texas Tribune.
“At the end of the day, taking money on behalf of a corporation is taking money on behalf of a corporation, no matter whose name is on it,” Crockett said.
Crockett’s House campaign received the corporate PAC contributions between March and November, cashing several checks months after receipt. Four were deposited after she launched her Senate campaign on December 8. FEC rules require committees to cash checks within ten days of receipt.
“There are frequently disparities between when a corporate PAC reports issuing a check and when a candidate reports cashing it, but lengthy disparities raise questions,” Beckel noted.
When first running for Texas State House in 2020, Crockett campaigned aggressively against corporate PAC money, attacking her opponent for accepting such contributions. That changed after winning her primary, when she began accepting corporate PAC donations.
By her 2022 congressional race, Crockett benefited from the second largest spending by special interest groups on House candidates that cycle, as Axios reported. The Intercept reported that more than $2.7 million came from two crypto PACs, including Sam Bankman Fried’s now defunct Protect Our Future PAC.
Since entering Congress in 2023, she has accepted over $315,000 from corporate PACs representing Comcast, Blackrock, DoorDash, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Cigna and Home Depot.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
