Oath Keepers Put Their Money Where Their Mouthpieces Are
The Oath Keepers is a sprawling organization, with members who have different—sometimes seditious—political beliefs. But it seems the Oath Keepers are nearly monolithic in one regard: their financial support of Republicans.
Of 236 alleged Oath Keepers who made documented donations to a federal political candidate this year, all but three of their preferred candidates were Republicans. And of those three outlier candidates that received a donation from an Oath Keeper, only one was to a Democrat—and the woman who made that $250 contribution told The Daily Beast that she only accidentally enrolled in the Oath Keepers about a decade ago.
“They’re the opposite of everything we stand for,” she told The Daily Beast.
As for the other donations, there’s no mistake about which political party Oath Keepers support.
The top recipient this year was, unsurprisingly, former President Donald Trump, whose Save America Joint Fundraising Committee enjoyed about $13,000 in support. (While the Oath Keepers are largely united behind Republicans, they spread their donations to a diffuse group of GOP candidates and organizations.)
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After Trump, there’s no clear favorite. The money is scattered across 21 candidates and committees that received a total of more than $500 from potential Oath Keepers, the group now at the center of swirling seditious conspiracy charges regarding its role in the Jan. 6 attack. The second top raiser was Adam Laxalt—the Nevada GOP senatorial candidate who has called the 2020 election “rigged”—who received $5,950.
In all, people with Oath Keepers ties have donated more than $100,000 to federal candidates, committees, and independent PACs this year, according to an analysis of bulk data with the Federal Election Commission. To identify donors, The Daily Beast cross-checked the FEC data against a membership list of alleged Oath Keepers first shared with media outlets in 2021.
Limitations with the information provided in the FEC’s bulk data make it difficult to determine all end recipients, such as candidates who received earmarked donations through intermediaries—most notably the GOP online fundraising platform WinRed, which this year has processed at least $57,000 from 150 donors on the list.
None of the donations went through WinRed’s Democratic fundraising counterpart, ActBlue.
The data also shows thousands of dollars in direct donations flowing from potential Oath Keepers to the GOP’s central nervous system: The Republican National Committee, as well as the official fundraising arms for GOP House and Senate incumbents.