Democratic megadonor Reid Hoffman is bankrolling a new super PAC tasked with combating the potential threat of independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s candidacy on President Joe Biden’s reelection bid, the latest campaign filings show.
Hoffman was one of only two contributors listed in the Clear Choice PAC’s first quarter filing, with the LinkedIn co-founder giving the group a $125,000 donation on March 21, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) data. The super PAC, which formed in early February, is one of many Democratic-aligned groups hoping to stop Kennedy from spoiling the 2024 election, other independent and third-party candidates.
The super PAC has totaled $375,000 in contributions — $250,000 being from SV Angel founder and managing partner Ronald Conway — and disbursed $34,075 to digital media firm Gambit Strategies, according to FEC data. Clear Choice PAC entered the second fundraising quarter with $340,924 cash on hand.
Kennedy’s campaign announced on Thursday that it had secured ballot access in the battleground state of Michigan via the Natural Law Party’s nomination, which the Daily Caller News Foundation confirmed with the secretary of state’s office.
Clear Choice PAC has hired elections lawyer and former Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer to challenge the independent’s position on the ballot, according to The Detroit News. (RELATED: DNC Forms First-Ever Team To Combat Third-Party Candidates In 2024)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 30: Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at a Cesar Chavez Day event at Union Station. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Hoffman has drawn speculation for his past connection with Jeffrey Epstein after a Wall Street Journal analysis showed his plans to visit the pedophile’s private island, Little St. James, twice in 2014. The megadonor told the outlet he had visited the island once for a fundraising trip, but hadn’t interacted with Epstein since 2015.
Clear Choice PAC was founded by former Biden deputy campaign manager, Pete Kavanaugh, according to The Washington Post. Kavanaugh told the outlet that independent and third-party candidates don’t have “any chance of winning a state in November, never mind reaching 270 electoral votes.”
“They are spoilers, plain and simple,” said Kavanaugh. “We’re here to work with allies to ensure those candidates are held accountable, and everything is on the table.”
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has formed its own group to combat independent and third-party candidates, as well as a coalition of lawyers to police candidates’ ballot access process. The DNC already took aim at Kennedy by filing a FEC complaint over an aligned super PAC — American Values 2024 — helping the independent gather ballot signatures.
Kennedy is also on the ballot in Utah, and has gathered the required signatures in North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Nebraska, Georgia, Arizona, South Carolina, Idaho, Iowa and Hawaii with help from the super PAC.
Other liberal outside groups are organizing similar campaigns against Kennedy and others, like Third Way, American Bridge, MoveOn, Citizens to Save Our Republic and End Citizens United, according to NBC News.
Kennedy’s campaign has brought in $11.2 million between Jan. 1 and March 31, and spent $10.6 million, according to FEC filings. The independent entered April with just over $6 million cash on hand.
The Kennedy campaign, Clear Choice PAC, Hoffman and Conway did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
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