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What I Am Doing to Prepare for the Most Consequential Election of My Lifetime

By dianeravitch
November 3, 2024 //
15

I first voted in the election of 1960. I voted for Senator John F. Kennedy. I have voted in every election since then. I usually vote for Democrats but I have voted for some Republicans.

This is the most important election of my lifetime. Why? Because the stakes are so high. Trump is not a conservative. He is a wild-eyed radical surrounded by rightwing zealots and white supremacists.

He would have the opportunity to appoint justices to the US Supreme Court, locking in a hard-right Court for the next generation. He says he will eliminate the civil service and replace career personnel with Trump loyalists. He wants to destroy the “administrative state,” that is, the authority of the federal government. He will cut Social Security and Medicare. He will destroy the Environmental Progection Agency. He will round up 11-15 million immigrants, both legal and immigrants, place them in detention camps, and expel them. He would hand over public health agencies to Robert F. Kennedy, who opposes vaccines.

Many years ago, I read a British political philosopher named Walter Bagehot on the subject of democracy. I recall him writing that the stability of a democratic society depends on, among other things, the low stakes of elections. It matters, but not too much, if your candidate wins. If he or she loses, there’s always next time. There will always be another election. Both candidates agree on basic principles, and neither threatens to blow up the system.

Trump threatens to blow up the system. He calls the other party “enemies,” and repeatedly says he will have them jailed or shot. The threats are threats to democracy.

So what am I doing?

I voted on October 26, the first day of early voting in New York State.

I no longer overdose on news. I am not watching it on TV because there is no news, just speculation. Instead, in my household, we are mostly watching reruns of “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.”

I no longer read polls. They are a waste of time. We will know soon enough how the elections turn out. Polls cause agita.

I am reaching out to everyone I know in battleground states to urge them to vote.

I have contributed to many candidates: not only Harris and Walz, but Colin Allred in Texas, Jon Tester in Montana, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell in Florida, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, Lucas Kunce in Missouri, Angela Alsobrooks in Maryland, Tammy Baldwin in Michigan, and many more.

If I were younger, I would be ringing doorbells in a battleground state, as my son and grandson are.

Please vote, if you haven’t done so already. Call everyone you know and urge them to vote. This is not an ordinary election. Our future is on the line. This time it matters.

Categories Elections

Nancy Flanagan: Terrified, Outraged, Exhausted

By dianeravitch
November 3, 2024 //
8

Nancy Flanagan retired from teaching music in Michigan public schools after a long career in the classroom. She then turned blogger and writes one of the best school-related blogs. In this one, she mirrors how many of us feel right now.

She writes:

A few weeks back, I wrote a blog about my fascination with a Michigan Women for Harris Facebook page—a community now numbering upwards of 85,000—and how the (mostly) women there morphed from showing off their blue fingernails and Chuck Taylors to sharing heartbreaking stories of neighbors and family members who are die-hard Trumpers. From stolen signs to the ruin of holiday dinners, it was a kind of running anthropological study of what it’s like to live in Michigan right now.

I’m still following the page which has become a kind of lifeline for many women, if you can believe the poignant and distressing posts appearing now. The blue fingernails are bitten to the quick and we’re all sick of 24/7 political ads in Michigan—holy tamales, they’re disgusting—but we seem to have reached a nadir. Shaky marriages, the destruction of truth, firing squads and Nazis.

Not to mention fake hillbillies and a Supreme Court bent on violating federal law.

But I live in a purple state. And I think Lyz gets this right:

The myth tells us that America is cut up into places that are insulated and isolated from one another. Red states where they can pretend their kids aren’t gay. Blue states where they can pretend that abortion access is easy. 

The reality is and always has been that if you are insulated from the realities of American politics, you are rich or a white guy (or both!). And there is nothing more political than that. 

The only real bubble is wealth — enough cash money to paper over a series of political injustices and enough access to move around the barriers to health care, childcare and education. 

There’s only one America, and we all live here.

Which is why I’m more than a little terrified of November 6.

That’s not a typo. I’m not afraid of the election results. I think they’ll be OK. I’m afraid of post-election anger and post-election fear. Plus post-election violence. When the bubble of wealth and privilege is punctured, and folks who have held power are threatened.

In The Washington Post, Ruth Marcus articulatedher emotional state: “I am guessing many of you are in the same condition in which I find myself: uneasy, drenched in anxiety and layered with dread — a flaky napoleon of neurosis. If you aren’t feeling this way, congratulations; I’ll have what you’re having.” 

So–I am not looking for ways to decompress. And while I admire the efforts to bring “both sides” together, I’m not ready to make nice with people who are sheltered and protected but unwilling to look at injustice. I understand that a better world is both possible, and very hard to achieve.

We’re not going to get there without some fear, some anger and a lot of hard work.  

Only one America.

Categories Elections, Harris, Kamala, Trump

GOP PACs Are Supporting Jill Stein’s Candidacy–to Hurt Kamala

By dianeravitch
November 3, 2024 //
20

Jill Stein was a spoiler in 2016. She won enough votes in battleground states to enable Trump to win the electoral college, as he was losing the popular vote. She claims to represent the Green Party but her candidacy elected the most anti-environment President in recent memory. Other presidents may have been indifferent to climate change, but Trump aggressively insists it’s a hoax. He even made the bizarre claim that rising tides would create more waterfront property even though the opposite is true.

Now Jill Stein is up to her old tricks.

Politico reports that her third party candidacy is sponsored by GOP donors.

I’m not sure what her goal is but she risks returning Trump to the White House. That must be what she wants.

Adam Wren of Politico wrote:

A Republican-aligned super PAC is sending texts in Georgia telling voters to “Join The Movement For Equality” and vote for Jill Stein — a sign some Republicans believe her candidacy could harm Kamala Harris’ chances in the battleground.

American Environmental Justice PAC, which filed with the Federal Election Committee on Oct. 1, is urging voters to back the Green Party candidate.

The text calls the two parties “a uni-party,” and says “you can count on Jill Stein.” An X user shared a screenshot of one text with a disclosure that it was paid for by American Environmental Justice PAC.

In the group’s sole filing, it reported receiving the entirety of its $35,000 in funding from Lin Rogers of Atlanta. Rogers has donated tens of thousands to Trump, including $12,500 to The Trump 47 Committee, Inc. A call to the phone number listed for the treasurer on the federal filing led to an inoperable number.

The PAC is at least the second pro-Stein, GOP-backed entity of its kind operating in an electoral battleground that has emerged in recent days: CNN reported that Badger Values is backing Stein with robocalls in Wisconsin.

Categories Accountability, Democracy, Disruption, Elections, Environment, Hypocrisy, Republicans, Trump

Dan Rather: Ignore the Polls; Turn Off Social Media; Read a Book; Take a Walk

By dianeravitch
November 3, 2024 //
13

Dan Rather is as nervous about this election as everyone else is. he’s been election-watching for many years. He offers sage advice. But whatever you do, keep reading this blog! Usually an island of reason, intelligence, and sanity.

He writes:

……Here’s my first tip to surviving the final two weeks before the election: Save your sanity and stay off social media. Get away from the TV, the computer, the phone. It is not good for anyone’s mental health to doomscroll. Leave the house and enjoy the lovely fall weather. Take a walk or a drive. 

Sure, use your phone to check sports scores, make dinner reservations, or call someone — the device’s original purpose.

Yes, we’re all on the edge of our seats, awaiting our chance to vote. Friends, I am not one to sugarcoat anything, much less the state of the most important election in our lifetimes. The race appears to be incredibly close. Based on my 70-plus years of covering American politics, please allow me to offer some suggestions for getting through the next two weeks without losing our collective minds. 

Do not obsess over the polls. The national horse race polls are meaningless at this point. We know it will come down to the seven battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. And the public polls that you see from those swing states are worthless, according to David Plouffe, a Harris senior adviser. He doesn’t even look at them, instead using the campaign’s internal polling, which he believes is more reliable.

Do not react to every flutter you read or hear — good or bad. Social media and the mainstream media amplify chatter for clicks and views. It is designed to get your attention, but that doesn’t mean there is any value or validity to the “news.”

Do consume other things. Read some fiction, go to a movie, listen to music.

Remember that a race this close — and it has been close for months — will not change significantly over the next two weeks. If you see a poll or anything else that suggests a huge swing in either direction, it is likely bunk.

I can’t write a piece this close to the election without (again) talking about Donald Trump’s unhinged and increasingly angry and erratic behavior. But I will keep it short.

In the last three days, he has talked incoherently about topics that have absolutely nothing to do with anything meaningful to voters. He made vulgar comments about golfer Arnold Palmer. He characterized January 6 as “a day of love.” He had a staged photo-op “working” at a McDonald’s in a misguided appeal to working-class voters — interesting coming from a candidate whose FEC filings show he has spent $31,000 at the fast-food chain since January 2023. 

It is doubtful that any of this will motivate fence-sitters to the polls for Trump, and what matters most now is getting people into the voting booth. That doesn’t start and end on November 5. Early voting has already begun in 46 states and Washington, D.C., so the turnout ground game is already underway.

“[Turnout] is a combination of best operation, best data, best resources, best volunteers. But what really gives all of that energy is the candidate closing well,” Plouffe explained on a recent podcast. “That gets more volunteers out. That might get some of those tough-to-get voters to say, ‘She’s taking the fight to them; I like that.’ Sometimes it’s not policy-based; it can be based on performance and energy. And she’s out there campaigning hard, having fun, going into tough [venues] like Fox News,” he continued.

As close as this race is, I still maintain that Harris has more going for her than Trump does. She has raised more money. The Democrats’ ground game is bigger and better organized. Most importantly, Harris is a more energized and likable candidate. 

But none of that will matter unless she gets her vote out.

The best advice I or anyone else can give is, vote! And get as many others as you can to do so too.

Open the link to read the post in full.

Categories Democracy, Elections

Jimmy Kimmel Presents Trump in his Own Words

By dianeravitch
November 2, 2024 //
12

This is a great bit by Jimmy Kimmel.

He lets Trump speak for himself.

He asks that viewers send it to their Republican friends.

I will but they won’t watch it.

You should.

Categories Elections, Trump

Trump Says RFK Jr. Will Oversee Public Health

By dianeravitch
November 2, 2024 //
23

Now here is another Trump promise that should keep us up at night: He has said that RFK Jr. will have a large role in his administration, overseeing the appointees in the areas that interest him: public health and food.

Melody Schreiber writes in The New Republic:

In June 2019, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited Samoa with his anti-vaccine organization, Children’s Health Defense, meeting with local anti-vaxxers and government officials at a time when the country’s measles vaccine was under attack. Prominent anti-vax voices, including CHD, blamed the vaccine for two infant deaths the prior year, even after the true reason was discovered. Amid the swirling misinformation, vaccine rates plummeted from 60–70 percent to 31 percent.

A few months after RFK Jr.’s visit, measles swept through the freshly vulnerable Pacific island nation, killing 83 Samoans—mostly children. Kennedy doubled down, writing to the Samoan prime minister to questionwhether a “defective vaccine” was responsible for the outbreak. Even two years later, in 2021, Kennedy called a Samoan anti-vaxxer who had reportedly discouraged people from getting vaccinated during the 2019 crisis a “medical freedom hero.” Kennedy has also insisted for years, against all available scientific evidence, that vaccines cause autism, blaming them for a “holocaust” in the United States.

This week, Kennedy told supporters that if Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump wins, he has promised Kennedy “control of the public health agencies,” including the Department of Health and Human Services. Trump transition co-chair Howard Lutnik later denied that Kennedy would have a job with HHS—although, at the same time, he said Kennedy had convinced him to pull vaccines from the market. Trump himself, at his Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday, seemed to lend credence to the idea of Kennedy leading on health: “I’m gonna let him go wild on health. I’m gonna let him go wild on the food. I’m gonna let him go wild on medicines,” Trump said. Trump also said on a three-hour podcast episode with Joe Rogan last week that he’s told Kennedy, “Focus on health, focus—you can do whatever you want.” It’s not clear whether such a promise would have been made in exchange for Kennedy’s political endorsement, which would be illegal.

But if Kennedy were to be put in charge of HHS, he would be leading the executive department that oversees the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health, among others. In the meantime, Kennedy is an honorary co-chair on the Trump transition team, and claims to be “deeply involved in helping to choose the people who can run FDA, NIH, and CDC.”

In his own speech at Madison Square Garden, Kennedy took aim at Democrats, saying they were once “the party that wanted to protect public health, and women’s sports”—a bizarre pairing that highlights his recent pivot to attacking trans athletes and gender-affirming care. Kennedy, who ran as a Democratic and then independent presidential candidate before throwing his support behind Trump, is also spreading misinformation on chronic health issues such as obesity, diabetes, drug overdoses, and autism; on Tuesday, for example, he said diabetes could be “cured with good food.” In his Sunday speech, Kennedy characterized Trump as a president who would “protect our children … and women’s sports,” as well as “end the corruption at the federal agencies—at FDA, at NIH, at CDC, and at the CIA”—a constellation of bodies rarely joined together, which he implied are conducting surveillance upon and acting against the interests of the American people.

“This unbridled assault on science and scientists, it’s highly destabilizing for the country,” Baylor College of Medicine dean Peter Hotez, author of The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science, told me earlier this year, a few months after Kennedy announced his run. But it’s not just Kennedy—Trump and other Republicans in Congress are also leading the charge to undermine expertise and further erode public trust in the government, he said. “This is what authoritarianism is all about,” Hotez said, lamenting “the collateral damage that it’s going to do to our democracy” and pointing to the ways Stalin portrayed scientists as public enemies during the Great Purge.

Hotez sees the false claims about vaccines causing autism, which first started gaining momentum in the late 1990s, as phase one of the assault on science. When that was thoroughly debunked, anti-science activists began aligning themselves “around the banner of health freedom, medical freedom,” getting a major boost with the Covid-19 pandemic, Hotez said. “Now we’re seeing the next phase, which is not only targeting the science but targeting the scientists and portraying them as public enemies. That is both scary and worrisome.”

The past five years have seen a “substantial” drop of trust in public health and scientists, especially among Republicans, Robert Blendon, Harvard University professor emeritus of political analysis and health policy, told me. At the same time, the anti-vaccine movement—which previously was not tied to politics—swung wildly to the right. “Republicans have become incredibly distrustful of vaccines,” Blendon said. “The Republican Party after the [start of] Covid has become very anti–public health.” They lashed out against what they perceived to be government overreach, which made them receptive to questions about the safety and effectiveness of the Covid vaccines—and, soon, other vaccines as well, Blendon said. “This led to a tipping point with this enormous resentment among particularly Republican audiences that the government went way too far.”

Trump’s own short-lived support for vaccines during the measles outbreak in 2019 and Covid in 2020 seems to have been a blip; he has spouted anti-vax views since at least 2007. Although Operation Warp Speed produced highly effective Covid vaccines in record time, one of the Trump administration’s only accomplishments of the pandemic, “the Republicans don’t want to claim it,” Trump said in September. At least 17 times, Trump has pledged to defund schools mandating vaccines. While his campaign says this vow applies to Covid vaccines only, Trump doesn’t make any distinctions in his speeches, opening up the possibility of all childhood vaccines being banned—though it’s not clear how he would carry out this plan. (No states requireCovid vaccines for school attendance.)

Categories Elections, Extremism, Health, Science, Trump

Public Education Has Been Ignored in the Campaign, But It Is on the Ballot

By dianeravitch
November 2, 2024 //
7

It’s hard to notice something that is invisible, but it is indeed obvious that there has been no discussion of education in the Presidential campaign.

It’s not as if education is unimportant: education is a path to a better life and to a better society. It is the road to progress.

The differences between the two candidates are like night and day. Trump supports dismantling public education and giving out vouchers. Harris is committed to funding schools and universities.

Project 2025 displays Trump’s goals: to eliminate the Department of Education, to turn the programs it funds (Title 1, IDEA for students with disabilities) and turn them into unrestricted block grants to states, which allows states to siphon off their funding for other purposes. At the same time that the Trump apparat wants to kill the Ed Department, it wants (contradictorily) to impose mandates on schools to stop the teaching of so-called critical race theory, to censor books, and to impose rightwing ideology on the nation’s schools.

It’s too bad that the future of education never came up in either of the high-profile debates. The American people should know that Kamala Harris wants to strengthen America’s schools, colleges, and universities, and that Donald Trump wants to destroy them.

Randi Weingarten wrote an excellent article in Newsweek about the plans of each candidate.

If you can’t open it, try this link.

Categories Bigotry, Budget Cuts, Censorship, Charter Schools, Curriculum, Democracy, Education Industry, Education Reform, Elections, Extremism, Harris, Kamala, Trump, U.S. Department of Education, Vouchers

Kentucky: Why You Should Vote “No” on Amendment #2

By dianeravitch
November 2, 2024 //
1

Richard Thornton, a teacher in Kentucky, wrote a letter to the editor of the Bowling Green Daily News to urge his fellow citizens to vote NO on Amendment 2, which would sneak vouchers into the Kentucky state Constitution.

As an educator for 30 years, I’ve watched teachers work very hard at helping all students regardless of background or the help they receive from parents. It is an insult to teachers to say that in an under performing school is the teachers’ fault and therefore we’re going to let the private and parochial schools do the job. It won’t happen. Those schools will cherry pick the best students and will not be able to serve those who have disabilities both mental and physical. They simply do not have the resources.

You can support the religion of your choice by giving to that particular religious school as a donation, but don’t ask others, a.k.a. taxpayers, to support that particular religion when it is contrary to their beliefs. We have a little document called the Constitution which guarantees the government will not establish a religion.

You want your children to go to private or parochial school and that’s your choice and you pay for it. Our system of public education is the backbone of the future of this nation and not fully supporting it with our time, resources, and money will fall back on a nation with too many ignorant people. It would be nice to believe that a public or parochial school can do the job better but in truth and in fact and statistically relevant, they do no better job than our great public schools.

Vote NO on Amendment 2!

Categories Elections, Kentucky, Vouchers

Florida: Voting on the Amendments on the Ballot

By dianeravitch
November 2, 2024 //
4

Scott Maxwell, a regular columnist for the Orlando Sentinel, has some suggestions about how to vote in the referenda in Florida. From reading him for the past few years, I trust his judgment.

I don’t live in Florida, but the amendment I will watch closely is #4. That’s the amendment to roll back Florida’s harsh six-week ban on abortion. Very few, if any, women know that they are pregnant at the six-week mark. A six-week ban is, in reality, a total ban. Under this ban, women will die; young girls will be forced to become mothers. People like Ron DeSantis are not pro-life.

VOTE YES TO REPEAL THE SIX-WEEK BAN.

VOTE YES TO REPEAL THE BAN.

This is how Scott Maxwell is voting on state referenda:

Florida’s Constitutional amendments can be confusing, often by design.

So I’m going to try to break down the six amendments on this year’s ballot as simply as possible. I’ll give you the arguments for and against each one, tell you some of the supporters and opponents and share how I’m voting. Do whatever you want. It’s your constitution.

Amendment 1: Make school board races partisan

This would take school board races, which are now nonpartisan affairs, and turn them into partisan contests with closed primaries. The idea was backed by Republican state legislators — and one Democrat, Sen. Linda Stewart of Orlando — who believe partisanship should play a bigger and more transparent role in school issues. Opponents, including the League of Women Voters, say injecting more partisanship into school board races is a rotten idea and note that the closed primary system will prevent many of you from casting votes.

Vote yes: If you want more partisanship and party involvement in local school races, as well as closed primaries.

Vote no: If you think candidates should appeal to voters based on their platforms and credentials rather than their party affiliation.

How I’m voting: No. I think this is the worst amendment on this year’s ballot. The last thing our schools need is more politics and partisanship.

Amendment 2: Put hunting and fishing in the Constitution

This would add language to the Florida Constitution that says hunting and fishing is a constitutionally protected right. Hunting and fishing is already legal in Florida. Existing statutes even declare them as “preserved” activities. And no state has banned hunting and fishing. But advocates say they just want to be super-duper sure. Opponents say this is like asking voters to pass a constitutional amendment protecting the right to golf or play tennis. The Florida Bar Journal also published a lengthy piece that said this proposal could have unintended consequences, such as prohibiting local beach communities from closing stretches of beach to protect turtle eggs, for instance, if someone claimed that turtle protection got in the way of their “constitutional right to fish.”

Vote yes: If you want to enshrine hunting and fishing protections in the Florida Constitution.

Vote no: If you don’t.

How I’m voting: No. This one seems unnecessary and potentially fraught with unintended legal consequences.

Amendment 3: Legalize recreational marijuana

This would basically treat marijuana like cigarettes and booze, making the substance legal but subject to strict government regulation. Advocates note that marijuana is a natural substance, already widely used and argue that legalization would make it safer. Some law enforcement chiefs say it would also stop wasting their time. Opponents, including Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Chamber of Commerce, dispute the drug’s safety, say this amendment would primarily benefit a few large companies and generally argue that communities that allow marijuana are unpleasant.

Vote yes: If you want to legalize marijuana.

Vote no: If you don’t.

How I’m voting: I’ve been torn on this one. I don’t think marijuana is as harmless as some advocates claim and know companies like Trulieve hope to make billions off legalization. But I also believe adults should have the ability to make their own decisions and can’t make a good case for why alcohol and carcinogenic cigarettes should be legal and why this naturally grown plant shouldn’t be. So I ultimately decided yes, agreeing with the Sentinel editorial board’s summary: “We’re not going to pretend that legalizing recreational marijuana would be a 100% beneficial experience for Florida. But it does make sense — far more sense than the current situation, where some people use medical pot with no fear of prosecution while others still face arrest, jail steep fines or a lifelong criminal record for possessing it.”

Amendment 4: Prohibit Tallahassee-imposed restrictions on abortion

This is the abortion amendment. And it’s pretty simple. It would prohibit state lawmakers from imposing any laws that place restrictions on abortion “before viability” beyond what federal law says while preserving requirements for parental notification. Citizens placed this initiative on the ballot to combat Florida’s new restrictions, which are some of the strictest in the nation, banning abortion after 15 weeks without exceptions for rape or incest and effectively banning most abortions after six weeks. Supporters, including some doctors, say Florida’s law puts women’s lives in danger, is heartlessly cruel to victims of sexual crimes and that abortion decisions should be made by women and their doctors, not politicians. Opponents, including the governor and GOP lawmakers, generally oppose abortion and say they should have the right to decide what medical procedures pregnant women can undergo.

Vote yes: If you think Florida’s existing ban on abortions without many exceptions is too extreme.

Vote no: If you are opposed to abortion under most any circumstances and trust state politicians to make the rules.

How I’m voting: Yes. I believe thoughtful people can have different opinions on abortion. But Florida’s current laws are extreme and dangerous.

Amendment 5: Adjust homestead exemptions for inflation

State lawmakers want to offer homeowners a tiny tax break — maybe $10 a year — but force local governments to pay for it. This one’s a bit complicated. It would take half of the $50,000 homestead exemption homeowners get and tie it to inflation. So if inflation rose by 2.5% one year, your homestead exemption would be worth $50,625 the next, representing an increase of 2.5% on $25,000. Clear as mud, right? Opponents say this is political trickery, since state lawmakers aren’t offering to cut state taxes. They want to force local governments to take the hit. And the Florida League of Cities argues that tiny savings for homeowners would have a huge collective impact on local governments. The Tampa Bay Times editorial board supports this plan. The Orlando Sentinel and Sun Sentinel oppose, noting this tax break would elude many Floridians, namely renters.

Vote yes: If you want to slightly increase the tax exemption homeowners get every year and decrease what local governments collect for services like fire and police.

Vote no: If you think the exemption is fine the way it is.

How I’m voting: No. I don’t really care much about this one either way. Sure, I’d like a few extra bucks. But this seems like political theater; a way for state lawmakers to say they provided a tiny tax break without cutting any of their own spending. If state lawmakers want to cut taxes, they should cut the taxes they collect.

Amendment 6: Repeal taxpayer financed campaigns

This would end the law that allows candidates for statewide office to use public money to finance their campaigns. Forty years ago, Floridians voted to create this program, hoping it would help grassroots candidates compete with politicians who suck up gobs of special-interest money. But now, thanks to political committees that can take unlimited donations, the candidates who take the most special interest money also collect the most tax dollars. Ron DeSantis set the record in 2022, collecting the most money ever from deep-pocketed donors and the most from taxpayers (more than $7 million). Supporters of this repeal include Florida legislators. Opponents include the League of Women Voters and the Sentinel editorial board.

Vote yes: If you don’t believe taxpayers should finance political campaigns.

Vote no: If you like the idea of tax dollars paying for campaigns and believe lesser-funded candidates deserve help, even if their better-funded opponents get more of it.

How I’m voting: Yes. Unlike my newspaper’s editorial board, I believe this subsidies-for-politicians program was a noble idea that has been warped beyond sense or salvation. It could’ve been fixed by requiring subsidy recipients to limit all their other contributions. But lawmakers have consistently refused such reforms.

Want more info?

Check out the League of Women Voters’ great voter-info site at Vote411.org

smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com

Categories Charter Schools, Democracy, Education Industry, Elections, Florida

Who Are the Top 10 Donors in the Presidential Race?

By dianeravitch
November 2, 2024 //
4

The Washington Post identified the top individual donors to politics in this campaign.

The 50 biggest donors this cycle have collectively donated over $2.5 billion into political committees and other groups competing in the election, according to a Washington Post analysis of Federal Election Commission data.

These megadonors skew Republican, though they affiliate with Democrats and third parties as well.

Donations by top 50 individuals and organizations to committees that are mostly …

Republican-leaning–$1.6B

Democrat-leaning–$752.3M

Supportive of both parties–$214M

Cryptocurrency and realtor groups were the only donors to both major parties

The vast majority of money from top donors has gone to super PACs, which can accept unlimited sums from individuals and often work closely with campaigns despite rules against coordinating their advertising.

Top individual donors

From billionaire investors to shipping magnates, here’s who they are and their top donations.

************************

Timothy Mellon REPUBLICAN

Railroad magnate and heir

Total large donations: $197M

Top donor: $197M

Top donations

$150M

Supports Donald Trump’s presidential campaign 

MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN INC.

AMERICAN VALUES 2024

$25M

Supports Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign 

CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP FUND

$15M

Supports Republican House candidates

The reclusive Wyoming-based businessman is the scion of former Treasury secretary and banking tycoon Andrew Mellon.

*************************

Richard & Elizabeth Uihlein –REPUBLICAN

Shipping magnates

Total large donations: $139M

Top donations

RESTORATION PAC

$76.2M

Opposes Senate campaign of Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) 

CLUB FOR GROWTH ACTION

$19M

Right-leaning super PAC

MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN INC.

$10M

Supports Donald Trump’s presidential campaign 

The couple founded Uline, a Wisconsin-based shipping and packaging materials company. They give to causes outside the GOP’s mainstream, helping to push the party further to the right.

*************************

Miriam Adelson –REPUBLICAN

Physician and widow of businessman and casino owner Sheldon Adelson

Total large donations: $136M

Top donations

PRESERVE AMERICA PAC

$100M

Supports Donald Trump’s presidential campaign 

SENATE LEADERSHIP FUND

$15M

Supports Republican Senate candidates 

CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP FUND

$9M

Supports Republican House candidates

Adelson, a doctor who has focused on addiction, is the widow of businessman Sheldon Adelson and the majority shareholder of Las Vegas Sands.

***********************

Elon Musk–REPUBLICAN

Billionaire technology executive

Total large donations: $132.2M

Top donations

AMERICA PAC

$118.6M

Supports Donald Trump’s presidential campaign 

SENATE LEADERSHIP FUND

$10M

Supports Republican Senate candidates 

THE SENTINEL ACTION FUND

$2.3M

Supports Republican Senate candidates 

Musk, one of the world’s richest men, founded electric car company Tesla. After endorsing Trump on X this summer, he has posted extensively on the platform, which he owns, in support of the former president.

***************************

Kenneth Griffin–REPUBLICAN

Hedge fund manager

Total large donations: $103.7M

Top donations

SENATE LEADERSHIP FUND

$30M

Supports Republican Senate candidates 

CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP FUND

$17M

Supports Republican House candidates

KEYSTONE RENEWAL PAC

$15M

Supports Senate campaign for Republican Dave McCormick (Pa.)

The billionaire is founder and CEO of the hedge fund Citadel.

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Jeff & Janine Yass–REPUBLICAN

Financier and education advocate

Total large donations: $96.2M

Top donations

CLUB FOR GROWTH ACTION

$35M

Right-leaning super PAC

PROTECT FREEDOM POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE

$19M

Conservative PAC funded by Jeff Yass’s company

CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP FUND

$10M

Supports Republican House candidates

Jeff is co-founder of the Pennsylvania-based investment company Susquehanna International Group. His wife, Janine, founded a charter school and is an advocate for school choice. [Both Jeff and Janine are major funders of charter schools and vouchers. Jeff Yass gave Texas Governor Greg Abbott to promote voucher legislation.]

**************************

Paul Singer –REPUBLICAN

Hedge fund manager and activist investor

Total large donations: $63.4M

Top donations

SENATE LEADERSHIP FUND

$27M

Supports Republican Senate candidates 

CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP FUND

$14.5M

Supports Republican House candidates

MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN INC.

$5M

Supports Donald Trump’s presidential campaign 

The billionaire is founder and co-CEO of Elliott Management.

**********************

Michael Bloomberg–DEMOCRAT

Former mayor of New York City

Total large donations: $47.4M

TOP DONATIONS

FF PAC

$19M

Supports Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign 

HMP

$10M

Supports Democratic House candidates

EVERYTOWN-DEMAND A SEAT PAC

$7M

Supports pro gun-control candidates

Bloomberg is co-founder of the financial software and media company that bears his name. He served as mayor of New York for three terms and ran for president in 2020.

**********************

Stephen & Christine Schwarzman–REPUBLICAN

Investor and philanthropist

Total large donations: $40M

Top donations

SENATE LEADERSHIP FUND

$9M

Supports Republican Senate Candidates

MORE JOBS, LESS GOVERNMENT

$8M

Supports Senate campaign for Republican Tim Sheehy (Mont.)

GLCF, Inc.

$4.5M

Supports Senate campaign for Republican Mike Rogers (Mich.)

Republican Stephen Schwarzman is the CEO of private equity firm Blackstone. The couple are major philanthropists.

***********************

Dustin Moskovitz–DEMOCRAT

Facebook co-founder

Total large donations: $38.9M

Top donations

FF PAC

$38M

Supports Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign 

The technology entrepreneur became a billionaire after co-founding Facebook. He has given millions to support Democratic presidential candidates since 2016.

Categories Billionaires, Elections, Funding, Harris, Kamala, Trump
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