Davis Launched a Crusade Against the For the People Act (H.R.1) to Protect his Big Money Donors
Davis has been the face of the GOP’s obstructionist campaign to prevent the For the People Act, a once-in-a-generation anti-corruption, voting rights, and money in politics reform bill, from ever becoming law.
Davis has railed against the For the People Act on social media, in op-eds, and on the House floor and says he has “no concerns” over how his constituents back home feel about him standing in the way of reform.
During the 2018 cycle alone, Davis raised over $76,000 from registered lobbyists and even had the Senior Vice President of one of the most powerful lobbying firms in America help him out with a commercial shoot for his campaign.
Davis needs this special interest money because he has no grassroots support. Throughout his entire career Davis has never raised more than 7% of his campaign funds from small dollar contributions.
H.R.1 would require “all organizations involved in political activity to disclose their large donors” but that would put a strain on Davis’ campaign that has relied on $2 million dollars in outside dark money spending to hold his seat.
Davis is Working for Wall Street, Big Oil, and Big Pharma — Not Illinois
Davis has taken nearly $500,000 from Wall Street and repaid them by voting for a bill that would roll back the 2010 Dodd Frank Law and strip power away from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: the agency that holds Wall Street accountable.
He also cosponsored the TAILOR Act which would require any regulatory actions against financial institutions to be “tailored” to place as little burden on Wall Street as possible.
Davis also voted for the disastrous American Health Care Act (AHCA) which would give pharmaceutical companies a $28 billion dollar tax cut; the same pharmaceutical companies that have given Davis over $96,000 in campaign contributions.
The AHCA would drive up the cost of healthcare by slashing protections for people with preexisting conditions and imposing an “age tax,” where insurance companies could charge older Americans more than younger people.
While Davis was taking $262,000 from the oil and gas industry for his campaign account, Davis voted to make sure their royalties wouldn’t go up for the oil and gas they produce on federal land.
Davis is a Favorite Son of the Koch Brothers and their Mega-Donor Friends
Since 2012, Davis has received over $32,000 from Koch Industries, the massive corporation owned by the Koch Brothers.
Davis has also taken over $10,000 from Ken Griffin, a billionaire who complains that rich people have “insufficient influence” in politics. And when Davis was the executive director of the Illinois Republican Party, he helped Ken Griffin and his wife circumvent campaign finance laws so they could contribute over $200,000 to county GOP parties.
Griffin went on to give $6 million to Illinois Republican leaders in 2018 and gave $31.8 million in political contributions in 2017 and 2018 alone.
In the 2014 cycle, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent $500,000 in ads attacking Davis’ opponent and was not required to disclose any of their donors.
Fast forward to 2017, and the Chamber announced that Rodney had a 100% voting record with them for the entire year and presented him with the “Spirit of Enterprise” award.
