Dem House Candidate Took $21K From Soros-Backed ‘Defund the Police’ Group, Records Show

Kristen McDonald Rivet battles Republican Paul Junge in pivotal Michigan district

A Michigan Democrat running in a pivotal House race brought in $21,000 from a George Soros-financed group that lobbied for defunding the police.

Kristen McDonald Rivet, who is facing off against Republican Paul Junge in Michigan’s eighth district, received the contributions from the PAC for America’s Future while she was running for state senate in 2022, according to campaign finance records.

The news could reignite questions about McDonald Rivet’s views on law enforcement. The Democrat came under fire last month for past social media posts in which she criticized police as a “structure put in place to oppress” and called for a national “overhaul” of the policing system. McDonald Rivet’s previous anti-police comments are at odds with the policy positions she’s now voicing as a congressional candidate. On her website, the Democrat says she will “stand with law enforcement” and “put more cops on the beat.”

Campaign finance records show that one of the largest direct funders of McDonald Rivet’s state senate campaign was a group connected to the “defund the police” movement. In 2022, the PAC for America’s Future gave the candidate $10,000 in June and $11,000 in September.

The PAC for America’s Future is the campaign finance arm of the Future Now Fund, a group that lobbied for legislation to cut police budgets in 2021.

The organization argued that police funding has “no connection to crime rates,” and local governments should instead “invest police savings in proven youth, health, employment, and housing programs,” according to an archived copy of its website from 2021.

The group drafted the Community Reinvestment Act, a piece of model legislation that activists and politicians could propose on a state and local level. The bill would “reduce excessive policing and reinvest the money” into “community-based programs,” such as subsidized housing and health care.

The PAC for America’s Future has received $500,000 from the Democracy PAC, a group created by left-wing financier George Soros, according to campaign finance records.

“This is further evidence that Kristen McDonald Rivet is not focused on protecting people in our communities,” Junge, the Republican challenger, told the Washington Free Beacon. “Kristen McDonald Rivet is undermining police and the vital work that they do.”

McDonald Rivet’s campaign manager, Shane Wolfe, told the Free Beacon the Genesee County sheriff and prosecutor have endorsed the Democratic candidate “because she has a long record of supporting local law enforcement.”

“Kristen has made clear that in Congress, she will fund our police and secure our border, and she will stand up to anyone on the far left who tries to do otherwise,” Wolfe said.

Last month, the New York Post reported on anti-police comments that McDonald Rivet had posted on Facebook after George Floyd was killed by a police officer in 2020.

“We can’t stand silent,” she wrote, alongside a photo from a protest. “George Floyd was murdered while pleading for his life and calling for his mother. Again and again this happens in cities across the country, born of a structure put in place to oppress.”

She added that the problem “can’t be fixed with small gestures. We need an overhaul now. Demand action. Vote. Silence is betrayal.”

Four years later, McDonald Rivet is professing a very different position on the campaign trail. On the policy section of her website, she promises to support federal funding increases for police.

“I will continue to stand with law enforcement and fight to make sure our police departments have the resources they need,” the website reads. “I will help secure federal grants to put more cops on the beat.”