Democrat Elaine Luria Pays Off Campaign Debt Using Corporate PAC Donations She Rejected

Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) paid off her campaign debt from her congressional bid by using corporate PACs donations after she pledged not to take donations from those PACs.

Roll Call reported Monday that Luria paid off her campaign debt by using donations from corporate PACs such as Google, Altria, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Rolls Royce North Americans, among other PACs.

Luria was elected in 2020 after she vowed not to take donations from corporate PACs.

Luria did not respond to requests for comment from Roll Call.

The corporate PAC donations, roughly $34,000, moved to her campaign coffers in December. Other corporate PACs such as Boeing, BAE Systems, Ernst and Young, and FLAC also donated to Luria.

Corporate PAC donations come from executives and employees of the particular corporation.

Luria represents Virginia’s second congressional district and defeated former Rep. Scott Taylor (R-VA) in his bid to take back his old congressional seat.

Leftist and Republican groups attacked Luria for taking corporate PAC donations after she promised voters not to take such donations.

Tiffany Muller, the president and executive director of End Citizens United, said in a statement last year that breaking her pledge “would demonstrate that her values have changed since she’s been in Washington or that she wasn’t sincere to voters in the first place. It will be a heavy burden on her to explain to voters why she is going back on her word.”

The group also tweeted in December Luria’s promise to make a ban on corporate PAC donations a “key tenet” in her 2020 campaign:

If you want to know why it’s so problematic @ElaineLuriaVA has broken her #NoCorporatePAC pledge to voters in #VA02, just tune in and listen to… 2018 Elaine Luria. ‍♀️ pic.twitter.com/LDWlMbqQZP

— End Citizens United (@StopBigMoney) December 3, 2020

Camile Gallo, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), said in a statement on Monday that Luria broke her promises to voters.

“Virginians know Elaine Luria is a phony who will never keep her word to them and this is the latest proof,” Gallo said.