Elizabeth Warren, Ayanna Pressley, Massachusetts Democratic Party Have Taken George Soros Donations
By Tom Joyce | September 8, 2022, 15:25 EDT
George Soros likes some of the Democrats that Massachusetts has to offer.
The Hungarian liberal megadonor with an $8.5 billion net worth has suppported a few liberal politicans and causes in the Commonwealth in the 21st century.
Soros has financially donated money to U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Cambridge), U.S. Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-Hyde Park), Harvard professor and former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Danielle Allen, the Massachusetts Democratic Party, and the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy. The latter organization led a successful referendum to decriminalize marijuana in the Commonwealth in 2008.
Over the years, Soros has donated $10,400 directly to Warren’s campaigns, according to data from the Federal Election Commission. He maxed out to Warren when she was running for U.S. Senate in 2012 and was also a max-out donor when she ran for re-election in 2018.
Soros made a pair of $2,500 donations to Warren during the 2012 election cycle: first on September 14, 2011, and again on May 3, 2012. Then, on June 18, 2018, he made a pair of $2,700 donations to Warren. In each case, one donation was for the primary and the other was for the general election.
Warren defeated incumbent Republican Scott Brown of Wrentham in 2012, 54 percent to 46 percent, according to the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office. She went on to defeat former state representative Geoff Diehl (R-Whitman) in her 2018 re-election bid 60 percent to 36 percent.
And while Soros didn’t donate to Warren during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary race, he was a supporter of hers.
Soros endorsed Warren in October 2019.
“She has emerged as the clear-cut person to beat,” Soros said, according to CNBC. “I don’t take a public stance, but I do believe that she is the most qualified to be president.”
Soros also made contributions to another Bay State politician: Ayanna Pressley. Soros made a pair of $2,800 donations on December 30, 2019, according to Federal Election Commission donor data. One donation was for the primary and the other was for the general election.
Additionally, Soros showed his support for the Massachusetts Democratic Party during the 2020 election cycle. He made two donations to it. The first one was for $9,107.84 on September 29, 2019. And the other was for $10,000 on June 12, 2020, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Pressley won her re-election bid over independent conservative pastor Roy Owens of Boston 87 percent to 13 percent, according to the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office.
Meanwhile, Soros also donated to the party twice before. He gave the party $5,000 on August 21, 2012, and kicked in another $9,687.48 on November 30, 2015.
Added up over the past decade, Soros has contributed $33,795.32 to the Massachusetts Democratic Party.
However, the biggest individual contribution that Soros made to a liberal cause in Massachusetts came in 2007. On June 8, 2007, Soros donated $400,000 to the now-defunct Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy, according to the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance. The organization headed a successful ballot question that decriminalized marijuana possession of under one ounce in the Commonwealth.
The measure passed 65 percent to 35 percent, according to the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office.
And most recently, Soros made a political donation in the Commonwealth last year. He contributed a maximum donation ($1,000) to the campaign of Harvard professor Danielle Allen during her short-lived run for governor, according to the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance. Allen, a Democrat, dropped out earlier this year well before the primary.
Allen was a member of Open Society Foundations’ U.S. Programs Board in 2016 and 2017, according to her resume. It’s a liberal grantmaking organization founded by Soros. Open Society Foundations supports liberal advocacy groups when it comes to immigration such as Immigration Law Center, United We Dream, and the Black Alliance for Just Immigration. The organization also supports changes in the criminal justice system through the American Civil Liberties Union and the Equal Justice Initiative, according to its web site.
Spokesmen for Warren, Pressley, Allen, the Massachusetts Democratic Party, Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy, and Soros could not be reached for comment on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday this week.
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