Week of 6/26: Dark Money in DE Primaries
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Friends,
I want to talk to you about some developments in the dark money infiltrating the Democratic primary races this year in New Castle County.
You may have noticed a number of poorly made and anonymous mailers and AI-generated social media ads for my opponent, asking you to thank her for Delaware’s failing public schools, skyrocketing costs of living, and expensive healthcare.
We now know where this money is coming from.
On June 24th, the First State Future PAC disclosed their funding sources. This is only one of several PACs involved, but it is by far the most well-funded. Five corporate law firms plan to spend $950,000 to make sure you never hear our message. They are scared what would happen to their clients’ bottom line if you vote for progressive policies to fix our schools, healthcare, and economy.
And they should be scared. Because even though our grassroots campaign will be outspent 10:1, this is Delaware we’re talking about. We’re a state of neighbors, and we talk.
So let’s talk about it.
These mailers want you to think those in power have solutions. They’ve been saying that for years. We see with our own eyes that our jobs are drying up, our schools are failing, and our healthcare system is a mess. They don’t have solutions—they have focus-grouped buzzwords.
Also, these law firms only care about their rich clients. Their client list includes Elon Musk, Fox News, Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Palantir, and even Harvey Weinstein. Not exactly the kinds of people I’d expect to be supporting Democrats.
Finally, nobody just gives away a million dollars. They want something in return. We’ve already seen the attacks on our corporate franchise from Elon Musk, and the Delaware politicians that helped him become a trillionaire. What do these people want next, that they’re willing to spend a million dollars to get it?
The Delaware I want to build puts its people above everything else. The rest is just smoke and mirrors. I will never take a dime of corporate or PAC money, and you should never accept anything less.
The soul of the Democratic Party belongs to its people. Not the billionaires. Not the corporations.
I am deeply rooted in our community as an emergency room psychiatrist, and want to bring authentic, responsive, and competent representation to our District. They may have money, but we have people. Let’s win this together, and send a strong message to Dover that enough is enough.
Have a great day everyone - and remember to vote on September 15th.
Until next time,
Dr. Rob Bahnsen
Candidate for State Representative, District 12