U.S. Senate candidate Raja Krishnamoorthi on Monday said he may "revisit" contributions from Shyam Sankar, a prolific GOP donor and chief technology officer for a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contractor.
The Sun-Times reported that Krishnamoorthi, who has raised $24 million for his Senate bid, has accepted more than $90,000 in contributions from key Trump and MAGA donors. That includes Sankar, CTO at Palantir, which has a $30 million contract with ICE to provide the agency with tools to track self-deportation. Palantir has been an ICE contractor since 2011.
This year alone, Sankar has donated at least $260,000 to Republican political causes, including $250,000 to the Republican National Committee. He has also contributed $29,300 to Krishnamoorthi, a U.S. representative and a Schaumburg Democrat, since 2015, including $3,500 to his Senate campaign committee in June.
Speaking with Brianna Keilar on "CNN’s News Central," Krishnamoorthi was asked about Sankar’s contributions and whether he opposed the services Palantir provides to ICE.
"I don’t want anybody providing ICE with tools that could be used to somehow racially profile people or discriminate against anybody," Krishnamoorthi said about Palantir. "They are out of control at this point. And so what ICE is doing, especially in my district and in Chicago, is completely unacceptable." The congressman called ICE operations "disconcerting," but said, "nobody’s more anti-MAGA than me."
"This story is being written because that donation appears to go counter — you don’t support this particular kind of service, and yet you’re accepting some financial support from Palantir’s CTO," Keilar told Krishnamoorthi. "Does that give you pause about that donation? Is that something you might revisit?"
Krishnamoorthi replied, "Yes."
Supporters for another Senate candidate, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, also on Monday compiled a letter penned to Krishnamoorthi, which asks him to "return or donate" contributions from individuals and entities connected to ICE enforcement or MAGA-aligned political efforts. Signers so far include State Sen. Cristina Castro, State Sen. Adriane Johnson, Cook County Commissioner Tara Stamps and at least 30 others.
"We write to express our deep concern and disappointment regarding your acceptance of contributions from an individual closely tied to ICE operations and to political efforts that have supported or enabled cruel immigration enforcement, including against our neighbors in Chicago and across Illinois," the letter reads.
Krishnamoorthi’s campaign told the Sun-Times the donations from Trump allies, including Sankar, represented just .2% of the more than $24 million he has raised. And a campaign spokesperson said Krishnamoorthi has more than 80,000 individual donors and “welcomes anyone who supports” his mission.
Krishnamoorthi’s Senate campaign did not provide further information about what, if anything, Krishnamoorthi planned to do about Sankar’s contributions. According to the Federal Election Commission, a campaign committee can only return a contribution within 10 days of the receipt of the contribution, meaning Sankar’s contribution from June cannot be refunded.
But the congressman can choose a charity route. Krishnamoorthi donated money received by a corporate PAC for Elon Musk’s SpaceX to charity before he launched his Senate run, according to NBC. Krishnamoorthi had accepted a $5,000 contribution from SpaceX to his congressional campaign fund in September 2024.
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