An ultra-wealthy Democrat who has been accused of attempting to buy a seat in the House of Representatives lashed out at the Supreme Court on Wednesday for lifting restrictions on political donations.
Sean Eldridge, husband of New Republic editor and Facebook "poke" button inventor Chris Hughes, called the court’s decision in McCutcheon vs. FEC on Wednesday "a disappointing step backwards for our democracy."
"It further weakens our country’s campaign finance rules and the core idea that our country was founded on—a government of the people, by the people and for the people," Eldridge said in a statement.
Eldridge is the largest contributor to his own campaign. By the end of 2013, according to the campaign’s most recent disclosure report, he had poured $715,000 of his own fortune into the effort.
Other donors to his campaign include a number of out-of-state billionaires, including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg, Google chairman Eric Schmidt, and former hedge fund manager Tom Steyer.
In addition to direct contributions to the campaign, Eldridge has been accused of using his fortune to buy good will in New York’s 19th congressional district, to which he moved only two years ago.