Sunday, October 27, 2019

Andrew Yang's big gamble - thumbs up to Super PACs


It's a risk, but Andrew Yang is willing to take that chance if it moves him into the top tier of Democrats seeking the presidency.

He has decided to accept funds raised by a Super PAC, making him the only one of the Democratic candidates to do so. The other candidates are depending on comparitively small donations from individuals in order to demonstrate their independence from lobbyists and special interests.

The Super PAC backing Yang is Math PAC, which is run by Will Hailer, a Democratic operative who previously worked as a senior adviser to the Democratic National Committee and as a top staffer for now-Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, according to HuffPost. Hailer told Recode the group planned to spend at least $1 million to back Yang.

“Math PAC will work to ensure that [Americans] know that Andrew Yang is our best chance of defeating Donald Trump,” the group declares in the mission statement on its website. “We conduct targeted advertising, plan events, and launch outreach initiatives, so Americans learn what is at stake this election cycle and into the future.”


Yang, whose campaign is stalling around 2% in the polls, has surprised pundits for lasting this long. Although he's outperformed better known and more experienced candidates but he has failed to move into the top five contenders that include Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigeig and Kamala Harris.

With the $10 million raised by his campaign in the last quarter, Yang should have enough to carry him through the first few primaries and the caucuses in Iowa and Nevada.

“As the only candidate in the Democratic primary openly embracing the help of a single-candidate super PAC, Andrew Yang has sold out to big money and ended any pretense of running a grassroots campaign,” End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller told HuffPost. “Single digit poll numbers and a big money super PAC bailing you out doesn’t equal a winning campaign. The math doesn’t add up.

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