Report: Far-Left Connecticut Democrat Flip-Flops on Accepting Corporate PAC $$

Far-left Democrat Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-CT) received over $100 thousand in corporate PAC money after previously objecting to anyone receiving campaign contributions from corporate PACs, according to reports.

In 2018, during the Democrat’s first congressional run, as a candidate, Hayes committed to not accepting any money from corporate PACs for her campaign, according to the reports. She was part of a class of lawmakers who wanted to “clean up the influence of money in politics.”

She said, during a Democrat debate in 2018 while running for her current seat, “I would not take corporate PAC money,”  later adding, “I would not take money from firearms manufacturers or … what was the other one you said? … Private prison corporations? No.”

Hayes has also said in the past “all PACs are not created equal. …When I go to Congress, I will fight and make sure campaign finance reform is a priority.”

Now the flip-flopper, after being in Congress for two terms, has reportedly “accepted $102,000 for her campaigns from PACs run by many of the nation’s largest corporations, Federal Election Commission filings show.”

In the first three months of the 2021 cycle, the Register Citizen reported, “Hayes collected $9,500 from PACs operated by the likes of Walmart, Comcast, T-Mobile and General Dynamics.”

Barbara Ellis, the incumbent’s campaign manager, said, “the congresswoman accepts corporate PAC money,” then later adding, “her position evolved from the time she was a new candidate.”

Hayes’ campaign manager added:

She still believes all PACs are not created equal and has come to realize that PAC money in many cases includes voluntary employee contributions, often from her own constituents, and is not reserved simply for amorphous, dark money.

Ellis added, “she also has not wavered in her conviction that the money in politics is a broken system.”

Ellis also said, Hayes “consistently supported campaign finance reform,” included the Democrats partisan “For The People Act,” which, if passed, would give taxpayer funds to a political campaign and federal election process.

A report done by the Center for Responsive Politic found that 20 percent of the PAC contributions Hayes has taken “came from businesses over the last two election cycles … about 5 percent of her total contributions in those elections came from corporate PACs.”

The Republican campaign arm, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), has attacked Hayes on this issue.

Samantha Bullock, a spokesperson for the NRCC, told the Citizen, “Jahana Hayes is a hypocrite who broke the simplest promise she made to her constituents the moment she got to D.C..”

The NRCC has also released a list of Democrats they believe are vulnerable. The released list of 47 “offensive opportunities” includes 29 Battleground Democrats. The Battleground Districts are where “President Biden lost the district or where the 2020 presidential or congressional margin was within 5 percent.”

Hayes is on the list.