The Democrat money machine in Minnesota

Last week, the sitting Governor of Illinois, J.B. Pritzker, donated $2 million to the Minnesota-registered Democratic Governors Association (DGA) Victory Fund to support the re-election of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and other Democrats running for governor across America.

While Minnesota media focus on the fundraising of the individual candidates for Governor, the real action is behind the scenes. Tim Walz’s direct campaign has raised $2.66 million this year (through July 18). Gov. Pritzker nearly matched that amount with a single check to an unregulated political fund.

In 2018, relatively small donations were listed from several members of the Pritzker family, but nothing from the Governor himself. Perhaps his recent generosity to the DGA cause is based on his Presidential ambitions.

Pritzker is officially the leading individual donor to Minnesota politics this year:

The local DGA Victory Fund has raised a total of $5.8 million for calendar year 2022 to date (through July 18). The DGA fund has a total of $8.4 in cash on hand.

That does not guarantee that all those dollars will be spent in Minnesota. In 2018, the DGA reported similar dollar amounts to the MN Campaign Finance Board. In the end, almost all of that money was spent in other states.

There are signs that this year may be different. Back in May, the DGA announced its planned ad buys for 2022, and listed $4.5 million for Minnesota.