Wall Street donors have been lavishing the Democrats in the Senate with far more money than their GOP colleagues. The top six recipients (and nine of the top 10) of Wall Street money in 2018 among senators are Democrats. Of the top 20 Senate candidates to receive donations from Wall Street this cycle, 17 are Democrats, up from six in the last midterm in 2014…
Here are the top 12 recipients of Wall Street money. Eleven are Democrats:
Screen shot from Center for Responsive Politics
Why is Wall Street supporting these Dems? Seventeen Democrats helped repeal portions of the Obama-era Dodd-Frank legislation by voting with Republicans on the Dodd-Frank repeal. Nine Democrats also crossed party lines to appoint Goldman Sachs bailout attorney Jay Clayton to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission. 37 Democratic Senators opposed his confirmation.
This is despite Pew saying in a May 2018 poll that two-thirds of Americans support laws to limit money in politics. Truthout says that for this mid-term, Wall Street has donated nearly $43 million to Senate Democrats, compared with only $19 million for Republicans, a departure from typical election years.
The Democratsâ dependence on Wall Street money is not new. In fact, President Obama raised more money from finance than any candidate in history in his first presidential campaign. Even though polling shows deep distrust over Wall Street, most politicians donât seem to care.
Will taking Wall Street money be worth it? Will McCaskill, Tester and Heitkamp hold on? If voters really want this to change, theyâll have to stop electing politicians who represent Wall Street. On to cartoons:
Will Tuesday bring nightmares?
Tuesdayâs choice:
Shouldnât we be more worried about the gerrymandering, the crooked voting machines, the $ billions in corporate money, and the slander and attack ads?
Trumpâs parade:
And a yoga class. The home of the brave has become the fortress of fear:
Keeping out the criminals:
Itâs getting tougher for the GOP to keep using terrorism as their rallying call:
