Democratic Congressional candidate and Facebook spouse Sean Eldridge prides himself on running a "different kind of campaign." He’s tired of seeing the voices of everyday people being drowned out by the "money, and special interests, and corporate interests in Washington." He wants to fix that. At least, that's what Eldridge told attendees at the RFK Democratic Club meeting last week in Albany, N.Y.
Eldridge, who is married to Facebook cofounder and "poke" button inventor Chris Hughes, neglected to mention all the money he has accepted from billionaires such as Tom Steyer, George Soros, Jon Stryker, Google’s Eric Schmidt, and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. Eldridge has attended Manhattan fundraisers hosted by Goldman Sachs executives, and has contributed more than $700,000 of his own money to his campaign. (That does not include the millions the Facebook couple has spent shopping for a suitable Congressional district for Eldridge to run in.)
And as far as moneyed "special interests" are concerned, Eldridge doesn’t seem to think labor unions fall under that label. He’s more than happy to take their money. Asked if he would at last week’s meeting, Eldridge replied: "Yes. That was easy."
Eldridge is running against incumbent Congressman Chris Gibson (R., N.Y.).
The Eldridge campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.