Elizabeth Colbert Busch has campaigned for South Carolina’s 1st Congressional seat as a fiscally conservative, independent businesswoman. She has cast herself as a centrist challenger to former Gov. Mark Sanford, the Republican candidate. Yet, her campaign is funded in large part by left-wing national interest groups. ACT Blue, a bundler of progressive donors nationwide, accounts for almost half her total contributions.
Last week, the Colbert Busch campaign reported that it had raised over $870,000, so far, for next week’s special election. Her haul is almost double Sanford’s $450,000 in contributions. She has spent the funds liberally, however, and both campaigns have nearly equal amounts of cash-on-hand for the final stretch.
ACT Blue, a left-wing bundler of donations to progressive candidates and causes, funneled $420,000 to the Colbert Busch campaign, almost half her total contributions. Last year, the largest recipients of ACT Blue’s money were Elizabeth Warren and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. It is not a typical source of funding for “centrist” candidates.
ACT Blue, though, is just the crest in a wave of progressive dollars flowing into Colbert Busch’s campaign. Twenty-one Democrat members of Congress have donated to her campaign along with a number of labor unions. The Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee and Nancy Pelosi’s House Majority PAC have flooded local TV with $1 million worth of ads.
Colbert Busch and Sanford are locked in a tight race for next week’s election. The 1st District is a conservative-leaning district. Colbert Busch must hope that the voters don’t notice the progressive funding from outside the district fueling her campaign.
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