Pelosi's PACs flooded with over $1M in cash from teachers' unions as debate raged over school reopenings

Political action committees associated with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., received a flood of donations from teachers' unions as they fought to keep schools closed while a growing number of parents pushed to get their children back into classrooms.

The AFT is one of the largest teachers' unions in America and until recently had resisted reopening schools. The seven-figure contribution to the House Majority PAC, which will ultimately benefit dozens of Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections, was by far the largest from the group during the first quarter. The AFT cash flowed to Pelosi as teachers’ unions poured large sums into a number of committees linked to Democrats as they clashed with Republicans over school reopenings across the country. Roll Call reports that during the first three months of the year, contributions from teachers’ unions to Democrats had drastically spiked compared to the same time in the 2020 campaign cycle. AFT pushed a total of $1.6 million into Democrats' coffers between Jan. 1 and March 31 after giving just $45,000 during the same time period in the last election cycle.