Hollywood donors flood Dems with midterm cash
By Judy Kurtz - 10/23/18 03:14 PM EDT
Hollywood Democrats are pouring money into the midterm elections, infusing races with cash in a last-ditch push to flip control of Congress.
Some of the country's most famous faces — including Meryl Streep, Steven Spielberg, Alec Baldwin and Paul Rudd — have been splashing their signatures on big-money checks for House and Senate candidates in recent months.
Streep and actor Jack Black each donated $10,000 in September to a joint fundraising committee that benefits Sen. Claire McCaskill's reelection bid, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) data collected and analyzed by ITK. The Missouri Democrat is locked in a nail-biter with the state's attorney general, Josh Hawley (R).
The top-dollar donations to Democrats perhaps aren't exactly a shocker for fans of Streep and Black. The Academy Award-winning star of “The Post†delivered remarks at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in support of Hillary Clinton and has been an outspoken critic of President Trump. Streep famously slammed the then-president-elect at last year’s Golden Globes, railing against Trump for imitating a disabled New York Times reporter.
And at the unveiling of his Hollywood Walk of Fame star last month, "School of Rock's" Black referred to the commander in chief as a "piece of shit."
The two performers aren't the only ones coughing up campaign dollars for McCaskill, one of 10 Democratic senators up for reelection in states Trump won. Michael Douglas gave $5,000 to the McCaskill Victory Fund in September.
Mark Harvey calls the rush of Hollywood money in this midterm election "exceptional."
The director of graduate programs at the University of Saint Mary and author of "Celebrity Influence: Politics, Persuasion, and Issue-Based Advocacy" says opposition to Trump has ignited a "sea change in how comfortable celebrities feel intervening at this point."
But the thousands of dollars going toward McCaskill pale in comparison to what some other Hollywood heavyweights are giving ahead of Election Day.
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https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/412790-hollywood-donors-flood-dems-with-midterms-cash
