Booker Shuns Corporate PAC Money While Leading 2020 Pack In Big Bank Cash

Democratic New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker is leading 2020 Democratic hopefuls in donations from the nation’s largest banking institutions, according to a recent report tracking donations to the top 10 candidates.

Booker vowed early in 2018 to reject corporate PAC donations, along with several of his fellow candidates. It was seen more as stunt than symbolism due to the low dollar thresholds and tight regulations governing corporate PACs, according to The Hill. Booker has not, however, taken a similar stand against donations from corporations themselves.

The nation’s top 15 financial services firms have been generous to Booker, donating almost $275,000 to his campaigns over the past six years. He tops the list of his fellow contenders, receiving nearly twice the amount than the list’s second largest recipient, former Democratic Maryland Rep. John Delaney, at $151k. Third on the list was former Democratic Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke at $132k, with Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar coming in fourth and fifth at $124k and $122k, respectively.

Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders saw almost zero money from this group, having pitched a transaction tax to cover a universal paid tuition program. Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren did slightly better at $23k, but lost banking allies after she fought to establish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a controversial agency created by the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. Democratic California Sen. Kamala Harris, who took a similar stance against corporate PAC donations in 2018, received $36k.

At $205k over six years, Morgan Stanley (the beneficiary of a $107 billion dollar federal loan during the 2008 banking crisis) gave the most to 2020 hopefuls. Next was JP Morgan at $157k, and Goldman Sachs made the list at $151k.