Fetterman campaign may have violated finance rules by selling donor list

With just days left before the vote in one of last year’s most hotly contested midterm election races, John Fetterman’s senate campaign raked in nearly $2.5 million from multiple sales of its donor lists, at wildly divergent prices — a possible violation of campaign finance rules.

On Nov. 3, 2022, five days before voters were scheduled to go to the polls in the key senate race that pitted Pensylvania Democrat Fetterman against Republican television personality Mehmet Oz, Fetterman for PA raked in $2.2 million from two progressive Washington strategists for the sale of the list.

Middle Seat Consulting, which worked on Fetterman’s campaign, paid $1 million in a “list acquisition purchase,” according to campaign finance records. Aisle 518 Consulting LLC, which has worked on Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential bid, among other progressive campaigns, paid $1.2 million for Fetterman’s list, according to public records.

A day later, on Nov. 4, the Fetterman campaign took in $250,000 from fellow Pennsylvania Democrat Bob Casey for Senate Inc, Federal Election Commission filings show.

While it’s neither uncommon nor illegal for political candidates to sell or rent out their donor lists, the Federal Election Commission requires that they be sold at similar prices: “At the ‘usual and normal’ rate without the purchaser making a contribution,” said a spokesman for the FEC.

In Fetterman’s case, his list commanded wildly divergent rates and was sold again in the weeks after the midterm elections to one of the Washington-based strategists. On Dec. 2, Aisle 518 Strategies paid $600,000 for the donor list, according to filings. On Nov. 30, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee shelled out $500,378 for it, according to FEC documents.

The League of Conservation Voters Action Fund, an environmental group that works to back environmentally-minded candidates, endorsed Fetterman last year and paid $230,000 for his campaign list on December 14, according to filings.

And between April 2021 and January 2022, Fetterman for PA shelled out a total of $578,471 in six transactions to Middle Seat Consulting for the purchase of donor lists, according to FEC filings.

“The price discrepancies for the sales of Fetterman’s donor list are so dramatic it appears his campaign benefitted illegally in the final days of a hotly contested race,” said Tom Anderson, director of the Government Integrity Project at the National Legal and Policy Center in Virginia.

Calls to the principals of Middle Seat Consulting, which raked in more than $6 million for its work on Fetterman’s campaign, and Aisle 518 Consulting were not returned Friday.

A spokesperson for Fetterman did not comment.

Fetterman, who was hospitalized this week after feeling light-headed, suffered a serious stroke in May 2022 just days before winning the Democratic primary. He went on to win the senate seat vacated by retiring Republican Senator Pat Toomey.