XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.politics.democrats, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: zinn@reno.us   
      
   A dark money group that wants to defund police and abolish federal   
   immigration agencies has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the   
   Arizona Senate race, providing a last-minute boost for Democratic senator   
   Mark Kelly, whose once-sizable lead has evaporated ahead of Election Day.   
      
   Living United for Change in Arizona has spent nearly $350,000 since Oct.   
   21 to help the Kelly campaign, according to Federal Election Commission   
   records. The expenditures have gone to pay wages for canvassers to knock   
   on doors in the Grand Canyon State to turn out the vote for Kelly.   
      
   The donations create an uneasy alliance for Kelly, who fashions himself a   
   moderate criminal justice reformer. Living United, which has received   
   funding from left-wing billionaire George Soros, has called for defunding   
   the Phoenix Police Department, saying, "The police do not protect or serve   
   us." The group, which has held protests outside Immigration and Customs   
   Enforcement facilities, made national headlines in October 2021 after its   
   members filmed Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D., Ariz.) in a bathroom on the campus   
   of Arizona State University and grilled her over her opposition to ending   
   the filibuster to pass a voting bill.   
      
   The group's support comes at a pivotal moment for Kelly, whose double-   
   digit lead over Republican Blake Masters has disappeared amid growing   
   concerns about crime and the economy. A recent poll from the progressive   
   Data for Progress found Kelly tied with Masters. The poll also found that   
   Latino voters favored Kelly by a 58-37 margin, down considerably from   
   Kelly's support among the group in the 2020 special election.   
      
   While the Kelly campaign does not directly work with Living United on the   
   canvassing effort, Living United has paid $210,000 to FieldCorps, a   
   consulting firm with links to Kelly. Francisco Heredia, a Mesa city   
   councilman who owns FieldCorps, has campaigned this year for Kelly. The   
   Kelly campaign lists Heredia as a member of its "Latinos for Kelly   
   Coalition." Living United paid another $138,546 to ADP Payroll to cover   
   wages for canvassers, according to campaign finance disclosures.   
      
   Living United's political action committee received around $1 million in   
   funding in the 2020 cycle from the left-wing voter mobilization groups   
   Civic Participation Action Fund and the Movement Voter Project. The   
   group's activist arm, which organizes anti-police and anti-ICE rallies,   
   has been funded by numerous dark money progressive groups. The Sixteen   
   Thirty Fund and the New Venture Fund, neither of which is required to   
   disclose its donors, in 2019 gave $165,000 and $40,000, respectively,   
   according to the Capital Research Center. Soros's Open Society Foundations   
   in 2019 gave $1.5 million to Living United "to support policy advocacy led   
   by communities of color in Arizona."   
      
   Living United campaigned last month for Democratic gubernatorial candidate   
   Katie Hobbs, Fox News reported.   
      
   The Kelly campaign and Living United did not respond to requests for   
   comment.   
      
   Published under: 2022 Election, Arizona Election, Dark Money, Defund the   
   Police, George Soros, Illegal Immigration, Mark Kelly   
      
      
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)