A PAC bankrolled by Democratic megadonor George Soros is flooding a western Pennsylvania race with cash to help a liberal public defender become the top prosecutor, contributing more than 90 percent of the total funds the candidate raised.
The Justice and Safety PAC has spent $734,000 on advertisements supporting Matt Dugan, the candidate running for Allegheny County district attorney in a primary against a moderate Democratic incumbent, Steve Zappala. Dugan raised just $76,764.17 excluding the Soros cash, the Washington Examiner reported.
"No rational person believes that any politician who gets nearly all their funding from one source won’t be taking orders from them once taking office," Zappala’s spokesman Mike Mikus said.
It's the latest action by Soros to influence elections across the nation. Kim Gardner, the top prosecutor in St. Louis who took large donations from Soros, quit her job last week amid a legal battle with Missouri’s attorney general Andrew Bailey, who sought to remove her for neglecting her duties.
Gardner faced bipartisan calls for her resignation after a teenage volleyball player lost both her legs when she was struck by a car driven by a criminal out on bond in February. The man had violated the terms of his bond several dozen times but wasn't held in custody.
Soros has been involved in Pennsylvania races for years, the Examiner reported:
In 2017, Soros himself spent $1.7 million supporting the winning campaign of Larry Krasner for Philadelphia district attorney, a whopping five times as much as Krasner himself spent. The amount represented over 30% of all the spending in the seven-candidate primary.
Under Krasner's tenure, recidivism rates have skyrocketed, thanks to his refusal to charge low-level offenders. Last year, the Philadelphia Police Department recorded 502 murders, down slightly from the record-high 562 homicides in 2021.
Soros is currently working to boost his influence in left-wing media. His investment management fund is participating in a $400 million deal to purchase Vice News out of bankruptcy.
Soros in 2021 helped form a group called Good Information, Inc., which acquired Courier Newsroom, a group that pushes Democratic propaganda on websites designed to resemble legitimate local news publications. Media Matters for America also received $500,000 in funding in 2021 from Soros.