Interest groups meet with candidates, fund their campaigns

By Mia Friedman

Yesterday, candidates spoke with various interest groups about their platforms and plans of supporting the interest groups ideals. The interest groups included the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO, the Club for Growth, AARP, the National Education Association, the NAACP, Sierra Club and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The interest groups reported to the FEC their thoughts about the candidates, including their strengths, weaknesses and who they were going to financially support in their campaign efforts.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s main concern is fighting to protect businesses from excessive regulation. They chose to endorse Gideon Helf because he wants to help all businesses grow, reduce debt, and won’t impose regulations on big corporations.

The National Education Association’s main concern is promoting a high quality and equal education for all. When asked about the candidates, the NEA felt that Gideon was very energized, yet his Chief of Staff was speaking for him too much. The NEA felt that Ali Hammoud was very passionate on the topic of education, and they saw no evident weaknesses in his campaign. They decided to financially support Ali because they think he will represent them best.

AARP’s main concern is connecting higher quality healthcare to all social classes by lowering prices and increasing access. They decided to financially support Ali Hammous because his views aligned perfectly with their interest group goals.

The Club for Growth’s main concern was lowering taxes and reducing the government’s involvement with healthcare. They felt Logan Glazier was an exceptional candidate, speaking clearly and being concise when introducing his ideas. When asked about his weaknesses, they had none. The financially supported Logan because he supports their interest group’s ideals.

The main concern of the NAACP is promoting racial equity and equality for colored minorities. They enjoyed that candidate Bennet Solomon was against descrimination in the workplace. However, they didn’t think that he had any real solution to the problem. This caused them to financially support Gideon Helf, because he wanted to increase police accountability by increasing body camera footage.

The AFL-CIO’s main goal is to achieve fair opportunity and treatment of the average working people. AFL-CIO loved Mizuki Brent’s campaign idea of introducing more vocational schools, but didn’t think this would translate to more jobs as she had hoped. They also approved of Grace Cabral’s main goal of freeing up government funds to put toward other initiatives. They ultimately decided to support Ali Hammoud, who wanted to control the growth of big corporations to help the working class.

The American Civil Liberties Union’s main concern is providing equal rights and opportunities to all. This is why they chose to financially support Gideon Helf, who had strong views on human rights issues and always agreed with the ACLU on how to fix key issues.

The Sierra Club’s goal is to protect the environment and a switch from fossil fuels to more environmentally-friendly green based economy. They decided to support Mizuki Brent, who was knowledgeable on the topic of the environment and was confident in her ideas and plans.

Each interest group funded their chosen candidate with $100,000 to benefit their campaign. The candidates will then allocate their different money to different aspects of campaigning, one of which is the option for a campaign ad on the Daily Derenberger next week!