Crosspartisan coalition calls on presidential candidates to embrace transparency, disclose their campaign “bundlers”

In an effort spearheaded by Issue One, 13 organizations from across the ideological spectrum are urging Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, and independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to publicly reveal information about their top campaign fundraisers before Election Day.

Often referred to as “bundlers” for the literal or metaphorical bundles of checks they collect, these elite fundraisers frequently raise vast sums of money for presidential candidates, often hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars. This enables them to ingratiate themselves — and curry favor — with those candidates. Under both Democratic and Republican administrations, campaign bundlers have received plum postings, such as ambassadorships and positions on commissions.

“Government accountability depends on transparency in our campaign finance system, and that includes transparency about presidential campaign bundlers,” the groups state in the new letters, which were recently mailed and e-mailed to the campaigns of Vice President Harris, former President Trump, and Mr. Kennedy, who suspended his campaign in August but continues to urge his supporters in non-battleground states to vote for him.

The letters continue: “Your campaign is already required by law to regularly report detailed information about any federal lobbyists who bundle campaign contributions on your behalf. Implementing a robust bundler disclosure system that publicly displays information about all individuals who raise $50,000 or more for your campaign would help demonstrate your commitment to transparency.”

The letters call on these presidential candidates to “regularly and meaningfully release information about your campaign bundlers before Election Day,” ideally “in tandem with all upcoming campaign finance reporting deadlines with the Federal Election Commission.”

Presidential candidates must file new campaign finance reports with the FEC by midnight on Friday, Sept. 20. Additional pre-election campaign finance reports must be filed on Sunday, Oct. 20, and Thursday, Oct. 24.

“Voters deserve to know who is helping the next president raise boatloads of cash and what they might want in return,” said Issue One Research Director Michael Beckel. “This year is no time to abandon this simple transparency measure that helps bolster trust in our government.”

It has long been a bipartisan tradition for presidential candidates to voluntarily share information about their campaign bundlers.

Candidates ranging from President George W. Bush to President Barack Obama to 2008 GOP presidential nominee John McCain to 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton each released some information about their campaign bundlers.

Likewise, during the 2020 presidential campaign, now-President Joe Biden and now-Vice President Kamala Harris each disclosed some information about their campaign bundlers, as Issue One previously noted. However, Republican Donald Trump opted not to voluntarily reveal any information about his campaign bundlers during either his 2016 or 2020 presidential campaigns.

Nevertheless, media outlets including Puck News and CNBC have reported that Trump’s campaign has at least seven tiers of bundlers receiving special perks and access — from those who raise at least $15,000 (“Trump Force”) to those who raise at least $1 million (“Ultra MAGA”).

And last year, NBC News reported that the Biden-Harris reelection campaign had at least four tiers of bundlers — those who raised at least $46,000; those who raised at least $750,000; those who raised at least $1.25 million; and those who raised at least $2.5 million.

To date, there has not been any public disclosure of these elite fundraisers’ identities.

The 13 organizations that signed these new letters to the Harris, Trump, and Kennedy campaigns are as follows:

• American Promise
• Business for America
• Campaign Legal Center
• Common Cause
• Democracy 21
• Issue One
• League of Women Voters of the United States
• Michigan Campaign Finance Network
• National Legal and Policy Center
• OpenSecrets
• Project On Government Oversight
• Public Citizen
• RepresentUs