Democratic megadonor George Soros is digging his hands deep into Florida politics, pumping millions of dollars into liberal causes and candidates' campaign accounts, all while setting the stage to go all in for gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum next year.
On Wednesday, Gillum announced a whopping $765,000 in campaign contributions. The strong fundraising numbers are undoubtedly a boon to Gillum's aspirations to leave the Tallahassee Mayor's Office behind and kick up his heels in the governor’s mansion next year.
The biggest of the 3,500 online contributors: George Soros and his son, Alex, who donated a combined $150,000 to Gillum’s run for Florida governor.
This isn’t the first time Gillum and Soros have connected, though. Soros’ name should sound familiar because it also popped up in the email scandal plaguing Gillum on the campaign trail.
Shortly after his campaign kicked off last month, it was discovered Gillum had purchased NGP VAN software using city funds. Gillum later used the email servers for political purposes.
Last month, the city handed over 60 emails sent using the software, which Democrats often use to circulate emails to voters. Gillum's office handed over another 46 new campaign emails sent using city email last week.
Among the thousands of emails, Tallahassee Reports found there were two email addresses for George Soros family members – Jonathan (Soros’ son) and Jeff (Soros’ nephew). The outlet also reported finding email addresses for individuals connected with Soros-supported groups like the Open Society Foundation, the Tides Foundation, and the Soros Fund Management, LLC.
Gillum isn’t the only politician Soros has put his weight behind, though.
Soros has shifted focus onto the Sunshine State in recent years, making himself a familiar face in Democratic circles by donating millions of his own dollars into Florida campaigns.
The Democratic billionaire has been especially active with the Florida Democratic Party, using his financial prowess to attempt to wield power over statewide elections.
Soros has donated millions of dollars to the FDP in recent years. In 2014, he gave the party $1 million. In 2016, he upped the ante and funneled $1.3 million to help out the Dems in a pivotal battleground election year.
On top of that, Soros gave $1.3 million to the Florida Safety and Justice political committee, which in turn dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into TV commercials to oust Orange-Osceola State Attorney Jeff Ashton and elect embattled state attorney Aramis Ayala into office.
Soros has also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars through the United For Progress PAC to fund an effort to mobilize central Florida’s Puerto Rican voters, a critical voting bloc among Hispanics.
Those efforts paid off for freshman U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, who won the election by 57 percent, making him the first Puerto Rican to be elected to Congress.
Soros’ name also rings a bell for conservatives -- and not necessarily in a good way. Republicans have widely criticized Soros in recent months, accusing him of personally paying thousands of people to show up at anti-Trump rallies and protests nationwide.
Rumors have also spread that Soros is behind the Indivisible Team, a group founded by former Washington insiders which organized scores of people to protest at congressional town halls against the American Health Care Act earlier this year.
Leon County GOP chair Evan Power said he wasn’t surprised Soros had pumped big bucks into Gillum’s campaign.
"It doesn't surprise me at all," Power told Sunshine State News. "He has governed from an extremely liberal standpoint. He's obviously been friends with him for a long time."
The Republican Governors Association, which has routinely trashed Gillum since he entered the race, also criticized him for accepting contributions from “far left” donors like Soros.
“With his complete lack of regard for Florida election laws, Andrew Gillum has made it increasingly clear he is for himself, Hollywood liberals and far-left billionaires, not Florida families,” the RGA said in a release sent Wednesday afternoon.
Gillum's communications director Geoff Burgan told SSN the two were united under a similar political mesage.
"Mayor Gillum created the Young Elected Officials Network ten years ago, and George Soros has been a strong supporter of it," Burgan said. "Both of them share a common goal: empowering young people to become effective public policymakers."
Gillum worked for Soros-funded People for the American Way Foundation, but their connection could also have something to do with former Democratic Party chairwoman Allison Tant, a Gillum ally who headed up the FDP when Soros was pushing millions of dollars into their bank account. Rumors are swirling that Tant is helping Gillum to lay the groundwork for a successful run as he takes his gubernatorial campaign into full swing.
Last week, the Tallahassee Democrat reported the surfacing of another very political email sent from Gillum's city office, inviting people to Tallahassee for a fundraiser for the Florida Democratic Party at former chair Tant's house. Tickets for the event cost anywhere from $50 to $1,000 per head.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
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