Barringer claims he left the party due to Trump’s takeover, but he first donated to Sanders before Trump won the GOP primary in 2015.
North Carolina Democratic House Candidate Paul Barringer recently said in a campaign ad that he “used to be a Republican,” and previously told the press he made the party switch because he felt that “independent voices” were not welcome in Donald Trump’s GOP.
Barringer described the party switch as “recent,” but reaffirmed his traditionally conservative convictions of free enterprise, small government, and individual responsibility. “I’m running down the middle because I think that is what we need in the country right now,” Barringer said in an interview with PBS.
But according to filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Barringer donated to socialist senator Bernie Sanders’ presidential primary campaign a decade ago in 2016, before Donald Trump had even won the Republican primary.
Barringer made a total of four donations to the Sanders campaign, the first in January and the last in April, almost a month after Sanders had fallen short in the party’s North Carolina primary election.
In the FEC filing, Barringer’s employer is listed as Optum, a health-care consulting subsidiary of United Healthcare, where he worked from 2013 to 2020, according to his public LinkedIn profile.
The four contributions totaled just 60 dollars, but put a dent in his claim of a recent party switch.
Barringer’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Barringer is challenging Republican incumbent Brad Knott, a freshman congressman and former federal prosecutor. The 13th District was redrawn as part of the North Carolina General Assembly’s effort to gerrymander Democratic-held seats out of reach, including that of Representative Wiley Nickel, who opted not to challenge Knott under the new map, but endorsed Barringer.
This “former Republican” strategy isn’t limited to Barringer’s campaign; it’s a tactic used by congressional candidates nationwide to unseat Republicans in the upcoming November midterms.
Former television anchor Janelle Stelson in Pennsylvania and Rebecca Bennett in New Jersey are self-identified ex-Republicans who sought refuge in the democratic tent.
Florida Democrat gubernatorial candidate David Jolly represented Florida’s 13th congressional district from 2014 to 2017 as a Republican. Former Republican Lieutenant Governor of Georgia Geoff Duncan sought the Democratic gubernatorial nomination earlier this year, but failed.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District to its “Districts in Play” program — one that focuses on congressional seats held by vulnerable Republicans — earlier in October.
Barringer has funded his campaign to the tune of $424,000 — almost half of his congressional committee’s war chest of just over a million dollars, according to campaign filings.