Despite efforts to misleadingly position himself as a pro-Trump Democrat in his bid for the U.S. Senate from Tennessee, a deep dive into his political giving shows that former Gov. Phil Bredesen is all but the half-a-million dollar man when it comes to giving to the most liberal of Democrats running nationally in past years.
In essence, “Bredesen donated nearly half-a-million to liberal politicians,” as The Washington Examiner reported:
Bredesen has branded himself as a sort of pro-Trump Democrat in his race against Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Bob Corker. He says that he isn’t “the toy of the national Democratic Party.” Campaign contributions filed with the Federal Election Commission and the Tennessee Campaign Finance database say he is a party favorite thanks to $460,691 in campaign contributions.
For the last three decades, Bredesen has given faithfully from his pharmaceutical fortune. He has contributed to congressional and Senate and presidential campaigns of dozens of major liberal candidates since 1983. Now that money could come back and haunt his current ambitions in a state President Trump won by 26 points.
Bredesen’s campaign is not denying his huge financial support for liberal Democrat candidates over many years. “Bredesen spokeswoman Alyssa Hansen didn’t dispute the money,” the Examiner noted.
And the deeper one looks, the worse it gets for Bredesen representing himself as anything other than a liberal Democrat cash cow, perhaps too liberal to represent Tennessee in the US Senate:
Regardless of whether the Democratic Party is or isn’t a partisan cult, Bredesen has showered the party’s anointed with cash. He gave $4,000 to former President Bill Clinton’s campaign and leadership committees. He spent $9,000 supporting both of former Vice President Al Gore’s failed presidential campaigns. He dropped former President Barack Obama a $5,000 line and then gave another $30,000 to Obama’s affiliated victory fund. When Bredesen was “with her” though, he was especially generous. The Democrat gave ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton $2,700 then turned around and sent a whopping $33,400.00 to her victory fund.
Bredesen having consistently opened up his deep pockets for liberals running for office over so many years is quite likely to emerge as a recurring theme down the stretch if his political opposition has anything to say about it. And it appears they do:
That spending will make it especially difficult for Bredesen to continue comparing himself to Trump. And indeed, Blackburn and a handful of pro-Trump outside groups, like the Committee to Defend the President, plan on making that comparison impossible.
“Phil Bredesen can claim he’s a moderate Democrat all he wants to try and get elected, but his mega-donations paint an entirely different picture,” committee spokeswoman Amanda Head said in a statement. “Bredesen’s donations confirm that he is determined to advance the failed Obama policies of the past — the same policies that 1.5 million Tennesseans rejected when they elected President Trump.”
