Billionaire George Soros officially launched a new political action committee this week to promote Democratic candidates in the 2020 elections. Democracy PAC, Soros’ new super PAC, received a $5.1 million contribution made Wednesday, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission.
The Democratic megadonor’s contribution is his first involvement in the 2020 elections. The 88-year-old financier has been active in financing Democratic campaigns for years, putting more than $20 million in Democratic campaigns in 2016 that included races down the ballot, even local campaigns for local prosecutors.
Soros’ $5.1 million contribution this week dwarfs the $2.1 million he made at this point in the 2016 cycle, signaling the billionaire’s intentions to aggressively promote Democrat candidates in the presidential election year. Soros has said, however, that he would not get involved in the Democratic presidential primary, telling the Washington Post in 2018 that the primaries “divide the Democratic Party.”
The Hungarian-American investor has been a longtime donor to other political organizations promoting Democratic causes, including Priorities USA, which has pledged to support the party’s eventual nominee.
A person familiar with Soros’ recent political activities this week told Politico that, unlike other Democratic billionaires such Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg, Soros would not be using his new political organization to develop his own brand but to promote Democratic causes.
“He has, unlike Tom Steyer or [Michael] Bloomberg, funded things like Senate Majority PAC and Priorities USA and EMILY’s List and Planned Parenthood and expects to continue to do so,” the source reported to Politico.
