If anything matters more in a Republican primary than loyalty to former President Donald Trump, it might be antipathy for current President Joe Biden.
That is why Attorney General John O’Connor launched a television ad this week attacking challenger Gentner Drummond for a $1,000 contribution to Biden in 2020 that was quickly withdrawn.
The ad says Drummond is a “Never Trumper” who “bankrolled Biden’s campaign to defeat Trump. Drummond gave us Biden.”
Drummond fired back with an ad calling O’Connor “desperate” and noting that Drummond gave $5,000 to Trump’s Save America PAC in February.
To the “Never Trumper” charge, Drummond notes that his campaign manager is former Trump staffer Stephanie Alexander.
FEC records show that a $1,000 contribution to Biden was made in Drummond’s name Aug. 31, 2020, through the Democratic online fundraiser ActBlue.
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On Friday, Drummond produced a letter he said was sent to O’Connor in February, days before the Save America donation, in which Drummond acknowledged the contribution to Biden and called it “a big mix-up.” Drummond said his wife “got mad” and made the contribution using a joint credit card but that she “immediately asked for a refund and got the money back.”
His campaign produced a certified mail receipt dated Feb. 19 of this year and bearing O’Connor’s signature.
FEC records show a $1,000 refund from ActBlue to Drummond dated Sept. 8, 2020.
Since 1999, FEC records show, Drummond has contributed $40,750 to federal candidates and political action committees. Most has been to Republican congressional candidates, including Sens. James Lankford and Jim Inhofe and House members Markwayne Mullin, Kevin Hern, Tom Cole and Stephanie Bice.
Aside from the refunded Biden contribution, Drummond’s last federal donation to a non-Republican occurred in 2013, when he gave Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Matt Silverstein $1,000.
Until February, he had never contributed to a presidential campaign or affiliated PAC.
Neither has O’Connor. An FEC search of his name turns up federal contributions of $6,240 since 2013, all of it to Republican candidates and PACs.
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