In the past month, we’ve been receiving an almost endless supply of emails from Democrats across the Commonwealth - many asking what the party plans to do to oppose President-elect Trump’s inflammatory hate speech, ill-informed agenda, and extreme cabinet nominations.
To answer our supporters…we do have a plan. It’s quite simple:

We will oppose any policy that works against the values for which Democrats stand; and we will oppose any policy that excludes Americans based on traits like ethnicity, religion, disability, gender, or sexual orientation.

Contribute today to send a clear message that you expect our elected officials to be accountable to the people, not to Trump’s corporate interests.

And we don’t stop there. We will knock on doors - taking issues off the television where the media controls the spin and bringing them directly into the living rooms of our neighbors where they hit home the most. We will use all the tools at our disposal to make sure your voice is heard.

Above all else, we will listen to you and other Democratic supporters throughout the Commonwealth, and engage you on important issues every step of the way.

Those who have already offered help have gotten plugged-in to our volunteer corps, which is currently making phone calls, writing letters, and holding events in opposition to Trump’s hateful rhetoric and his cabinet nominations. That group will continue to expand as we move into 2017 and work to support candidates in municipalities across the Commonwealth - even at the most local levels where Republicans have previously run unopposed.

But for all that to happen we need your help.

Contribute now, and help us mobilize supporters ahead of the broad sweeping changes we know Trump plans to make within days of taking office.

https://secure.padems.com/fight-back

Thank you for all that you do for the Democratic Party and for Pennsylvania. We’ll see you in 2017!

/s/Marcel Groen
PA Democratic Party Chairman

No one illustrates that relationship better than DeVos, who established Students First PA and who still runs its national parent organization, American Federation for Children. Jeffrey Yass, one of the local millionaires who donates to Students First PA, is also on the board of the Cato Institute – a think tank whose studies have been cited to explain votes on charter expansion by Pennsylvania legislators who received donations from Students First.

Since its inception in 2010, Students First has given more than $200,000 to PACS supporting seven state senators on the 11-member education committee alone, plus more than $5 million to support Democratic State Senate Whip Anthony Williams in his failed gubernatorial primary campaign.

The most cash given to a member of the committee other than Williams was $111,500, to PACs supporting Republican Joseph Scarnati. Although most of the recipients were Republicans, $45,000 from Students First went to the minority chairman of the committee, Democrat Andy Dinniman.
The super PAC also contributed to the PAC supporting the campaign of former Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican.

Students First has donated nearly $300,000 to support the campaigns of seven state representatives on the House education committee, with Jim Christiana, a Republican, receiving the most, and $26,500 going to the majority chairman, Republican Stan Saylor. The super PAC also contributed $76,000 to the failed primary opponent of Minority Chairman Jim Roebuck, a Democrat who has never received money from Students First.