Generally speaking, the more important the issue, the less it is discussed here in Washington DC. Let me give you an example. Today, while few people are talking about it, we are living under a corrupt campaign finance system which is undermining our democracy, and allows billionaires to control our political and legislative process.
In case you haven’t noticed, modern elections are less about ideas and candidates. They are about competing 30 second ads that billionaire-controlled Super PACs produce.
And as insane as this may sound, that spending can have more influence than the real-life candidate. In campaigns with huge amounts of outside spending, the average voter is often voting for the unknown donors behind the “independent expenditures,” not the person on the ballot.
How did this happen?
In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision in the Citizens United case that billionaires could spend as much as they want on political campaigns. And that’s what they’re doing. Since that decision was made political spending on elections has gone up by more than 1,600 percent. In the 2024 election 100 billionaire families spent $2.6 billion – double what they spent in 2020. Elon Musk alone spent $290 million to elect Trump. His reward: he became the most powerful person in government and was able to establish DOGE, implement his extreme right-wing ideology, and throw tens of thousands of federal employees out on the street.
But the impact of a corrupt campaign finance system goes beyond presidential campaigns. It goes right into the heart of the legislative process in Washington.
In early July 2025 Republicans in Congress passed Trump‘s “Big Beautiful Bill” – the most destructive piece of legislation in modern American history. While providing $1 trillion in tax breaks to the top 1% this bill makes massive cuts to Medicaid, nutrition and education. As a result of this legislation over 16 million Americans will lose the health insurance they have. Studies indicate that 50,000 Americans will die unnecessarily every year because they will no longer be able to access the medical care they need.
Almost every Republican member of the House and the Senate voted for this horrific bill. Why? Do you think they didn’t know about the impact that massive cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act would have on their constituents – many of whom are working class and poor? They knew. But what they also knew was that if they stood up and opposed that legislation, on the very next day Oligarchs with unlimited resources would be announcing that their super PACs would be opposing their next election bid. And they would likely lose.
That is exactly what happened to Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Tillis announced his opposition to this terrible bill because it would cause over 650,000 people in his state to lose their health insurance. The next day Trump ruthlessly denounced him and threatened to primary him. A few hours later Tillis issued a statement that he would not seek re-election. The Oligarchs do not take no for an answer. They fund candidates. They expect them to do as told. Period.
But it’s not just Republicans. Oligarchs have enormous power over the Democratic Party as well. A few recent examples:
While outspent by Republicans, over 80 Democratic billionaires donated tens of millions trying to elect Kamala Harris president in the 2024 election. Their heavy influence in her campaign, in my view, cost her an election that should have been won. Instead of running a campaign that took on powerful special interests and making it clear that she would fight for the working class of our country, she ran a campaign designed not to antagonize the business community and the Oligarchs. In fact, one of her main spokespersons was the billionaire Mark Cuban.
Billionaire influence on Democrats goes well beyond campaigns. It impacts decision making on some of the most significant moral and foreign policy issues that we face. On October 7, 2022, Hamas, a terrorist organization, carried out a horrific attack against Israel which killed 1,200 innocent people, and took over 200 hostages. Israel, like any country that underwent such an attack, had a right to defend itself. But Israel, in violation of international law, did not have the right to wage an all out war against the Palestinian people. That war, up to this date, has resulted in the deaths of some 56,000 people and the wounding of over 110,000 – in a population of only 2.2 million people in Gaza. Over 60% of the victims were women or children. There are, by far, more children with amputated limbs in Gaza than anyplace else in the world as a result of Netanyahu’s unconscionable, illegal and immoral war.
Do you think that Democrats in Congress (and Republicans) don’t know what’s going on in Gaza? Do you doubt that many of them are disgusted with the behavior of the Netanyahu government and how Israel is waging this barbaric war? Of course they do. Why, then, do they continue to vote for billions of U.S. dollars to support this war? The answer is that many of them understand that if they vote against military aid for Israel, they will face strong opposition from AIPAC and other billionaire-funded super PACs. And that’s not an idle threat. AIPAC has already spent huge amounts of money defeating members of Congress like Cori Bush in Missouri and Jamaal Bowman in New York who had the courage to oppose U.S. aid for the Netanyahu government.
But this political corruption is not just limited to what goes on in our nation’s capitol. It now takes place in virtually every state and large city in America.
In June 2025 a democratic socialist, Zohran Mamdani, defeated the Establishment candidate, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City. Mamdani ran a campaign that generated enormous grassroots enthusiasm in support of a working class agenda. The Oligarchs panicked after he won. Quite openly, billionaires in New York City have announced that they are prepared to spend hundreds of millions to defeat him and are looking for the candidate to do that.
Sisters and brothers: Let me be as blunt as I can and tell you what you already know. As a result of the disastrous Supreme Court decision on Citizens United, the American political system has been totally corrupted, and the foundations of American democracy are being undermined.
The reality is that while the billionaire class tries to buy our elections and our government, people who work for low wages, have no health insurance, can’t afford prescription drugs, and can’t find affordable housing are giving up on politics.
They see the rich getting richer as they use their wealth to buy influence, and wonder whether anyone in Washington even knows what is going on in their lives and it's hard to blame them for feeling that way.
That is why it is critical we do our part to stand with candidates who are campaigning on addressing the needs of working people in this country and who are likely to face the brunt of Super PAC spending for doing so.
I am talking about candidates like Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, who is all but certain to face millions of dollars of AIPAC spending in his primary election.
I am talking about candidates like Adelita Grijalva in Arizona, who is facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in Super PAC spending in the final days of her race.
It is my intention to do everything I can to support candidates like that this election — and to do so consistently. We'll raise money for them, we'll ask our large numbers of supporters to volunteer for them, and I will campaign for them in person.
But I cannot do that alone. Same as every campaign we've ever run. It's not just me. It's us. So I am asking:
If you've stored your info with ActBlue, we'll process your contribution instantly:
This is not a progressive issue. It is not a conservative issue. It is an American issue. Money in politics is an issue that should concern all Americans — regardless of their political point of view — who wish to live under a government that represents all of the people and not just a handful of powerful special interests.
In solidarity,
Bernie Sanders
Paid for by Friends of Bernie Sanders
PO BOX 391, Burlington, VT 05402
