Should 2020 Presidential Election Candidates Accept Support from Super PACs?

2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION SITE

Last updated on: 11/25/2019 8:02:44 AM PST

A Super PAC (political action committee) can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money for or against candidates in elections. Super PACs emerged in the wake of two court rulings in 2010 that said imposing limits on certain contributions to independent organizations was unconstitutional.

Super PACs are allowed to accept donations in unlimited amounts from corporations, unions, associations, and individuals. By contrast, candidates are restricted to donations of $2,700 from individuals per election cycle (there are two cycles per year) and cannot accept donations from corporations, associations, or unions.

Coordination between Super PACs, which can be formed without consent from a candidate, and political campaigns is forbidden.

Super Pacs are different from corporate and leadership PACs.

Source: Tom Murse, "The Era of the Super PAC in American Politics," thoughtco.com, July 3, 2019

Pro

Con

Hawkins

Not Clear or Not Found

Biden

Jorgensen

Trump

Pro (Yes)

Con (No)

Con

Hawkins
Green

"But public campaign finance will still be overwhelmed by SuperPAC independent expenditures, Dark Money spent by nonprofits using undisclosed donors’ money, and super-rich people spending unlimited funds on their own campaigns. In order to establish that we, the people, through our elected representatives, can fully regulate election finances, we need to enact HJR 48, the We The People Amendment. HJR 48 will end corporate personhood by establishing that only natural persons have constitutional rights. It will end the judicial doctrine that money is speech in elections."

Source: Howie Hawkins, "Exploratory Committee Announcement Event," howiehawkins.us, Apr. 3, 2019

Now Not Clearly Pro or Con

Biden
Democrat

[Editor's Note: Although Biden has made statements opposing Super PACs, an Oct. 24, 2019 statement from his campaign spokesperson, Kate Bedingfield, indicated either a reversal or softening of his position: "As president, Joe Biden will push to remove private money from our federal elections. He will advocate for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and end the era of unbridled spending by Super PACs. Until we have these badly needed reforms, we will see more than a billion dollars in spending by Trump and his allies to re-elect this corrupt president.]

Source: John Verhovek and Molly Nagle, "Amid Trump Attacks, Lagging Fundraising, Biden Campaign Drops Discouragement of an outside Super PAC," abcnews.go.com, Oct. 24, 2019

[Editor's Note: Biden previously expressed a CON opinion on this question. Read Biden's former position on whether candidates should accept support from Super PACs.]

Not Clearly Pro or Con

Jorgensen
Libertarian

"The limits set on individual donations to political campaigns violate our right to freedom of the press protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution. PACs will be unnecessary when this restriction is lifted."

Source: Communication from the Jorgensen campaign to ProCon.org on Aug. 26, 2020

[Editor's Note: The Jorgensen campaign self-categorized as pro to this question. However, the provided answer does not directly answer the question of whether candidates should accept Super PAC money, so ProCon.org must categorize the answer as not clearly pro or con. ]

Now Pro

Trump
Republican

[Editor's Note: The Trump campaign formally endorsed the Super PAC American First Action following reports that other groups were raising money from Trump supporters but not spending all of it on political activities. The Trump campaign encouraged authorities to investigate "alleged scam groups for potential illegal activities."

Trump previously expressed a CON opinion on this question. Read Trump's former position on whether candidates should accept support from Super PACs.]

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