WA-9 Race: Adam Smith Out-Raises Sarah Smith By 10X

RENTON, WA - Campaign finance filings released this week show a major imbalance between the two candidates running for the 9th Congressional District seat. Incumbent U.S. Rep. Adam Smith raised close to $500,000 during the third quarter compared to challenger Sarah Smith's approximately $50,000.

During the entire election cycle, Adam Smith has more than $1 million to date to Sarah Smith's $105,000.

A big difference between the candidates is where they get their money. About half of Adam Smiths third-quarter contributions came from political action committees (PACs). Some are political PACs, but many are PACs run by corporations like Alaska Airlines, Amgen, AT&T, Home Depot, T-Mobile, Microsoft, and defense companies like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and L3 Communications.

Sarah Smith has said that her top priority, if elected, would be to get corporate money out of politics. She has not accepted money from any PAC, political or corporate.

The two candidates had an intense discussion about corporate money when they appeared Monday on KUOW's The Record Monday. Host Bill Radke asked Adam Smith why he hasn't refused corporate PAC donations, as other Democratic candidates have.

"No matter where you get your money, you better not vote the way your donors demand, you better be independent," Smith told Radke, highlighting that corporations like Alaska Airlines and Northrop Grumman have withheld donations from him in the past. He said corporate dollars have never influenced his votes in Congress.

Pressed on why, then, he still takes the corporate PAC money, Smith said many politicians who swear-off PAC money end up just taking money directly from corporate executives.

"If you want to get at the corrupting influence of money ... it's the independent expenditures," Smith said.

Sarah Smith followed up by saying that corporate PAC donations can do more than buy votes in Congress.

"There is a corrupting influence of corporate money in politics," she said, adding that the money inspires other "insidious" behavior - like dragging feet on a vote, or remaining silent on an issue.

You can listen to the full WA-9 debate on KUOW here.

Images via Adam Smith, file photo