The Billionaires Are Trying to Hijack the Democratic Victory. Party Leaders Are Helping Them.

By Tony Pentimalli

 

A political conference bankrolled almost entirely by six billionaires is holding a discussion Friday called The Trust Deficit. You couldn't come up with a better example of everything wrong with the Democratic Party's relationship with wealthy donors if you tried. Just ten days after Americans handed Democrats control of Congress, some of the party's biggest names are gathering in Denver for a conference called What's Next, organized by Majority Democrats. According to an investigation by Sludge, six billionaires supplied 96 percent of the $17.5 million raised by the political committee sponsoring the event. Hedge fund billionaire Stephen Mandel and his wife, Susan, contributed $13.4 million themselves. This conference was planned months before the election, which tells us something important. These billionaires weren't scrambling for influence after the blue wave. They were already laying the groundwork to shape the party's future. And now, after Americans delivered a historic rejection of Trump's billionaire-friendly administration, some of the most powerful Democrats in the country are showing up to help give another collection of billionaires a prominent seat at the table. Are you kidding me?

 

What makes this especially infuriating is that we're not simply talking about rich people writing campaign checks. They're financing a political operation that helps determine which Democratic candidates receive support, who helps run their campaigns, and which policies get promoted as the party's future. Corporate Democrats have spent decades cozying up to Wall Street, wealthy investors, and powerful business interests, then telling working Americans why the changes they voted for are too expensive, too ambitious, or politically impossible. What's happening in Denver is that same old game with a more sophisticated operation behind it. Investigations by The Lever have exposed an interconnected network involving Majority Democrats, another political organization called the Bench, and the Searchlight Institute, which promotes more centrist, business-friendly policies. Through campaign support, political consultants, and policy development, these connected groups give wealthy donors opportunities to influence Democratic politics long before voters reach the ballot box. And nobody elected these people to decide what the Democratic Party should stand for.

 

Look at what's at stake for ordinary Americans. Mandel's hedge fund has billions invested in companies tied to artificial intelligence and data-center development, while the Mandel-backed Searchlight Institute has promoted allowing data-center construction to move forward under regulations rather than imposing the moratoriums some progressive lawmakers have demanded. Those decisions can affect electricity costs, water supplies, and environmental protections in communities across the country. Searchlight has also promoted health care proposals that critics warn could push more ambitious reforms like Medicare for All to the sidelines. Families are struggling to pay their electric bills and afford decent medical care, while wealthy investors with enormous financial interests in these industries have millions to spend promoting their preferred policies. The problem isn't simply whether one proposal is better than another. It's that the people who stand to make billions have the resources to influence which proposals receive serious consideration, while the families who will live with the consequences can barely get anyone in Washington to listen. And somehow we're supposed to believe this is how democracy should work?

This is exactly why I refuse to confuse the blue tsunami with the fundamental change Americans voted for. People didn't deliver this overwhelming victory just to see more blue on the electoral map or different names hanging outside congressional offices. They wanted Trump's abuses confronted, the corporate grip on Washington broken, and a government that finally gives a damn about working families. But what happens if these billionaires succeed in redirecting that mandate before Democrats even get started? What happens when serious health care reform gets watered down, corporate accountability gets softened to protect investors, and the promises made to voters are suddenly dismissed as unrealistic? I'll tell you exactly what happens. The blue tsunami will have washed Democrats into office without washing a damned thing out of Washington. The same wealthy interests will still be shaping the decisions, working Americans will still be fighting for the changes they were promised, and Democratic leaders will be congratulating themselves on a historic victory while the people who put them in office wonder what the hell they actually won. A blue map means very little if the people with the money are still allowed to determine how much change the politicians deliver.

 

Hakeem Jeffries, Elissa Slotkin, Josh Shapiro, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, and other prominent Democrats are on the conference program. Jeffries is preparing to lead the new House majority, while several of the others may have their eyes on the White House in 2028. These aren't political amateurs who wandered into the wrong hotel ballroom. They know damn well how money buys access in Washington, how wealthy donors cultivate relationships, and how organizations like this establish themselves as influential voices within a political party. By showing up, they're giving this operation something its billionaire backers desperately want: the credibility that comes from having powerful Democratic leaders treat their gathering as an important place to discuss the party's future. Americans just handed these politicians an extraordinary opportunity to challenge the concentration of wealth and power that has poisoned Washington for decades, and they're helping make a billionaire-financed political operation look like a perfectly respectable partner in that effort. What the hell are they thinking?

 

Slotkin's participation is particularly hard to swallow. On Tuesday, she stood alongside Bernie Sanders demanding a new direction for Senate Democrats. Sanders announced he would not support Chuck Schumer for majority leader, while Slotkin insisted that anyone seeking the job should explain how Democrats intend to govern differently. I couldn't agree more, which makes her appearance in Denver all the more maddening. She's demanding a break from the old Democratic leadership while participating in a conference financed overwhelmingly by wealthy donors who want to influence the party's next chapter. Chris Van Hollen, who has also questioned whether Schumer should continue leading Senate Democrats, is participating too. If these politicians genuinely want a different Democratic Party, they ought to be challenging the enormous influence of wealthy donors instead of helping make that influence look like business as usual. You cannot keep telling voters you're going to change Washington while treating the people who have spent fortunes influencing it as indispensable partners.

 

The way this organization initially treated journalists investigating its funding should make every Democrat furious. After The Lever published reports exposing Majority Democrats and its billionaire backers, the organization denied its reporters credentials to cover the conference. David Sirota, the publication's founder, accused the organizers of retaliating against his newsroom for revealing who was financing the group. Majority Democrats eventually reversed course and granted access after the dispute became public, but the initial exclusion was disgraceful. Here we have an organization financed overwhelmingly by billionaires, bringing together some of the most powerful Democrats in America to discuss the party's future, and the reporters investigating its money initially couldn't get through the door. We've spent years condemning Trump for attacking journalists and trying to punish news organizations that expose him, and we've been right to do so. But those principles don't suddenly become optional because the people mistreating reporters are operating in Democratic political circles. If Democrats want to preach transparency and accountability, they can damn well start by demanding both from the wealthy interests they're willing to share a stage with.

 

Anyone who believes this election means we've finally broken the power of the oligarchs is kidding themselves. The fight against fascism didn't end on Election Day, and turning the congressional map blue doesn't magically break the grip the wealthy have on American politics. Trump is still sitting in the White House, his administration still wields enormous power, and the billionaires who have benefited from his policies haven't disappeared. Democrats now have an extraordinary opportunity to investigate his abuses, challenge his administration, and fight for the reforms Americans demanded. But that fight cannot stop with Trump and the Republicans, because the corporate wing of the Democratic Party has spent decades helping preserve a system where the wealthy enjoy political access and influence ordinary Americans could never dream of having. We cannot celebrate this victory, hand everything over to Democratic leadership, and assume they'll take care of the rest. If this election is going to mean anything, voters must keep demanding accountability and refuse to let wealthy donors turn an overwhelming mandate for change into another comfortable arrangement that leaves the same rotten power structure standing. We didn't spend years fighting Donald Trump for turning our government into a playground for billionaires just to watch Democratic leaders welcome another collection of billionaires into the room where their party's future is being shaped. Every Democrat walking onto that stage in Denver should be prepared to answer one question: When the interests of the billionaires financing this political operation collide with the interests of the American people, whose side will you be on?

*Tony Pentimalli is a political analyst and commentator fighting for democracy, economic justice, and social equity. Follow him for sharp analysis and hard-hitting critiques on Facebook and BlueSky @tonywriteshere.bsky.social.

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