(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign could soon hire David Plouffe, a former Obama advisor and accused mastermind behind Mark Zuckerberg’s meddling in the 2020 election.
Plouffe played a major role in the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the entity behind Zuckerberg’s $400 million used to fund the 2020 election. Politico reported that he may join a growing list of consultants at the Harris campaign.
Plouffe was a senior advisor to former President Barack Obama from 2011 to 2013, after managing his 2008 campaign.
Fueling the controversy around Plouffe was his pre-pandemic book, A Citizen’s Guide to Beating Donald Trump, in which he viciously advocated for get-out-the-vote efforts in cities like Detroit, Milwaukee and Philadelphia.
In 2020, Zuckerberg donated $400 million to the non-profit Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), which in turn issued grants to several districts and counties. The funds were purported to safeguard election infrastructure, including ballot drop boxes and COVID-19 gear.
In 2022, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the Wisconsin Elections Commission violated the law by unilaterally ordering the use of ballot boxes. In 2024, the same court, with a liberal majority, overturned its ruling.
Former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline questioned whether Zuckerberg’s funds were used to sway the election in favor of Biden. Similarly, then-Wisconsin Special Counsel Michael Gableman accused Plouffe in 2022 of leading Zuckerberg’s efforts of “electing Joe Biden president and defeating then-President Trump.”
Gableman’s investigation was ultimately halted following infighting fueled by Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who had approved the investigation.
Despite these setbacks, several states enacted legislation barring or limiting Zuckerberg’s funds, infamously known as “Zuck Bucks.”
To date, a total of 28 states has enacted restrictions on “Zuck Bucks,” including key swing states like Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Twelve counties have similar restrictions, according to the Capital Research Center.
These limits likely prompted Zuckerberg to claim that his election funding was a “one-time” act. Plouffe has consistently denied allegations of voter fraud, instead conveniently framing voter suppression as a major threat to democracy. He has also been active on social media, frequently criticizing Trump.
Voter suppression, not voter fraud, is the threat to democracy. https://t.co/7vSruFzcbg
— David Plouffe (@davidplouffe) January 27, 2021
