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Close to 100 <\/span>people have requested their money back from the campaign of Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa.\u00a0<\/p>\n Refund requests can be routine part of campaigns, either because donors decide for some reason that they want a refund or they accidentally donated over the legal limit for contributions.<\/p>\n In Fetterman\u2019s case, though, several donors have indicated that they asked the campaign for their money back or planned to do so because of his hard-right turn toward Israel<\/a> and Republican-aligned policies. The bulk of the refund requests to Fetterman\u2019s campaign since the start of Israel\u2019s war on Gaza have been from small-dollar donors.\u00a0<\/p>\n Darwin Leuba, the vice-chair of the O\u2019Hara Township Democratic Committee and the elected auditor of the township since 2017 in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, requested a refund<\/a> of his $5 contribution last month.<\/p>\n \u201cFetterman\u2019s either fighting for our rights, or he\u2019s not. And if he\u2019s not, then we need to push back.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cIt seems silly, right? It\u2019s just five bucks, but it serves as a proof of concept for those who gave much more,\u201d Leuba told The Intercept, noting that he only spoke for himself. \u201cOur rights are being stripped away, and we need representatives who care enough to fight for us.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFetterman\u2019s either fighting for our rights, or he\u2019s not. And if he\u2019s not, then we need to push back,\u201d Leuba said, \u201ceven if it\u2019s five bucks at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n The Fetterman campaign has issued more than 1,700 refund requests since 2021 from more than 1,000 donors, totaling more than $780,800, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. That includes more than 200 refunds last cycle. At least seven political action committees also received refunds. (Fetterman\u2019s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.)<\/p>\n Most of the refunds the campaign issued last cycle after October 7 went to small-dollar donors: More than 80 percent of the total number of refunds the campaign issued in 2024 went to donors who gave less than $100 \u2014 up 8 percent from 2023.<\/p>\n In all of 2024, the campaign issued more than 120 refunds totaling $17,400, compared to 96 refunds in 2023 totaling $17,600.<\/p>\n Still, the refunds represent a small portion of Fetterman\u2019s campaign haul. Sixty-two donors received refunds after the October 7 attacks, totaling $20,300 across 139 contributions, less than 1 percent of the campaign\u2019s total individual contributions that cycle. That figure does not include donors like Leuba who requested their refunds last month, or anytime since December; requests after December will be reflected in an upcoming filing.<\/p>\n The period since October 7 reflects about two-thirds of the total time Fetterman has been in office, making it natural for more requests for refunds to pile up since the Hamas attacks.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fetterman\u2019s supporters have been vocal about their disappointment with his rightward turn since taking office. <\/p>\n Small-dollar donors have increasingly voiced their dismay with Fetterman since October 7, 2023, and his subsequent support for GOP efforts<\/a> like the Laken Riley Act<\/a> and the confirmation<\/a> of Attorney General Pam Bondi.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n At the same time, Republican donors ramped up their contributions<\/a> to the Democratic senator after October 7, The Intercept previously reported.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been clear for a while that he\u2019s been moving further to the right, which is why I quietly requested a refund months ago,\u201d Leuba said. \u201cI posted it publicly because he didn\u2019t fight back on the government funding bill and was attacking other Democrats for voting against it. That came off as selfish and counterproductive.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Some Reddit users posted comments on a thread about Leuba\u2019s refund request and said they planned to do the same. \u201cI just emailed in my refund request. I don\u2019t expect anything to come of it, but $40 is $40,\u201d one user wrote<\/a> last month.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI just sent in my request,\u201d another user replied. \u201cNot expecting any response but it\u2019s a good way to make it clear Pennsylvania is not behind this NewCon turn. I\u2019m not sure if he was always a fraud, it was the stroke or he\u2019s just trying to keep [his wife] Gisele out of an ICE raid. Regardless he\u2019s not who he said he was.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
\u201cTotally Defrauded by Fetterman\u201d<\/h2>\n