Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and seven Democrat senators are demanding that the Democratic Party purge its own ranks of billionaire influence, calling on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin to ban super PACs and so-called “dark money” from Democratic primaries.
In a letter sent Tuesday and copied to every state Democratic Party chair, Sanders and his colleagues urge the national party to follow the Arizona Democrat Party’s lead and “clean our own house” to prove they are serious about campaign finance reform.
“We cannot allow billionaires and powerful corporate interests to continue undermining democracy by injecting unlimited amounts of money into the political process,” the senators wrote. They cited Elon Musk as a symbol of this trend, accusing the top Republican donor of spending $270 million to help elect Donald Trump.
The group called the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. FEC decision “a disaster for our country” and said it is “unacceptable” that outside groups have “defeated a number of excellent members in the House and Senate.” While they support legislation to overturn Citizens United, they argue that Democrats do not need to wait for Congress to act and should immediately move to bar super PAC money from party primaries.
The Arizona Democrat Party recently adopted a resolution to limit outside spending in primaries, committing to ensure that Democrat candidates are not “benefited by, dependent on, or elected due to outside or independent electioneering spending.” The letter calls on national Democrats to adopt similar rules and develop enforcement procedures to uphold them.
“If our opposition to Citizens United is going to be taken seriously,” the letter concludes, “we must begin by cleaning our own house.”
Sanders’s letter signals growing pressure from the party’s left flank to sideline corporate-aligned donors ahead of 2026 and 2028, an effort that may widen internal rifts as Democrat leaders continue accepting outside cash to boost candidates in key races.
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