GOP donors fuel RFK Jr’s presidential campaign
Mark Dickson, a Californian who amassed a fortune treating aluminum for the aerospace industry, has donated more than $450,000 to federal candidates since 2015. The total includes $400,000 to Trump Victory, the joint fundraising committee that allows individuals to contribute large amounts to support Donald Trump. That money was then distributed to Trump’s presidential campaign, the Republican National Committee, state Republican parties, and others working on behalf of Trump.
Keith Sheldon, a retired car dealership executive from Argyle, Texas, also has consistently backed Trump. In 2016, Sheldon donated $5,400, then the individual maximum, to Trump’s presidential campaign and affiliated committees. In 2020, Sheldon donated the new individual maximum, $5,600, to Trump’s reelection campaign. In 2022, Sheldon donated $2,900 to one of Trump’s favorites, Senate candidate Herschel Walker (R-GA). Over the years, Sheldon, a registered Republican, donated several thousand dollars to GOP candidates for the House of Representatives.
According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records, neither Dickson nor Sheldon has ever donated a dime to a Democrat. Until now. This year, both donated $6,600 — the current legal maximum — to Robert F. Kennedy Jr, a Democratic candidate for president.
Dickson and Sheldon’s sudden interest in a Democratic primary candidate is unexpected. But, for Kennedy’s campaign, it is not uncommon. According to a Popular Information analysis of Kennedy’s first FEC filing, the lion’s share of Kennedy’s biggest donors have previously only donated to Republicans. [Continue reading…]
Kerry Kennedy, a sister of Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., lambasted her brother in a brief statement Monday after a report quoted him as saying that Covid-19 was “targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people” and that Jewish people are most immune.
“I strongly condemn my brother’s deplorable and untruthful remarks last week about Covid being engineered for ethnic targeting,” Kerry Kennedy said in a statement released by the nonprofit group Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, where she is president.
“His statements do not represent what I believe or what Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights stand for, with our 50+-year track record of protecting rights and standing against racism and all forms of discrimination,” she added. [Continue reading…]