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Donna Edwards won't take Wall Street money in Maryland Senate bid
04/09/2015   By Mark Hensch | The Hill
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Greg Nash

 

Rep. Donna Edwards (D) on Thursday promised to reject contributions from Wall Street banks in her Maryland Senate campaign.

Edwards also urged her opponent, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D), to swear off Big Bank cash, Reuters reported. The two are vying to replace Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski (Md.), who will retire in 2016.

“Wall Street won’t be happy until Democrats stop listening to progressives like me and Elizabeth Warren — and instead carry out orders from the biggest banks in the world,” Edwards said, citing the Democratic Massachusetts senator who has become a progressive icon.

Edwards said she was “outraged” by the undue influence massive financial institutions exerted on races like hers.

She has also become the favorite in the Maryland race for progressives, who worry Van Hollen — the top Dem on the House Budget committee — has been too eager to reform entitlement programs.

Her challenge to Van Hollen to reject corporate cash comes as he flexes his fundraising muscles. Van Hollen raised over $1 million in the month after Mikulski announced her retirement.

Edwards has made anti-Wall Street talk a key part of her Senate campaign. The lawmaker is hoping to ride the same wave of economic populism that has made Warren a star among liberals.

“The corporate special interests are going to come after me with all their money,” Edwards argued in a video launching her bid on March 10.

“But if you come with me on this fight, there’s no way we can’t win,” she urged supporters. “And when I step into Barbara Mikulski’s shoes as your next senator, you’ll always know where I stand — with you.”

Warren's own anti-Wall Street tone reportedly led representatives from four financial powerhouses to consider withholding campaign donations to Senate Democrats last month. Reuters reported last month that Citigroup, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America were the corporations angered by her attacks.

The Massachusetts senator responded by launching a fundraising drive on March 27 against the companies in question. 

Warren has also called for a freeze on Wall Street contributions in the 2016 presidential election. Despite progressive calls to seek the Democratic nomination herself, she said she is “not going to run." 

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