There’s enough of them to fill the Hollywood Squares.
Amid the millions of dollars flowing into Kansas for next week’s election, a number of celebrities — some more high profile than others — have given to candidates at the state and federal level.
They include two Oscar winners, a prolific Hollywood producer, a supermodel, and a television and film producer with some prominent titles to his credit.
The amount coming from celebrities is scant when compared to the millions of dollars coming into the state, although Democrats think it signals something bigger about the state of Kansas politics.
“Kansas has always been written off as this red state,” said Democratic National Committeeman Chris Reeves.
The election of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and Congresswoman Sharice Davids, he said, has signaled to the country that Kansas is a state that could be in play.
“Frankly, donors know that electing a Democratic senator here would give the party six great years to build out infrastructure in Kansas,” Reeves said.
Indeed, Democrats at the state and federal level have been outraising Republicans this election cycle, especially in key state Senate and House races that could determine whether the GOP hangs onto its supermajority next session.
Among the celebrities contributing to Kansas races include actors Susan Sarandon, Amanda Peet and Edward Norton, who each gave to Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Barbara Bollier, according to the Center for Responsive Politics and confirmed by the candidate’s campaign.
Sarandon, who caused a stir when she supported Green Party candidate Jill Stein over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race, won an Academy Award in 1996 for “Dead Man Walking.”
Sarandon, who has long been politically active, gave $250 to the Bollier campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Norton, an Academy Award nominee for “American History X,” “Primal Fear” and “Birdman,” gave Bollier $2,800.
Peet, who appeared in “Something’s Gotta Give” in 2003 with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton, gave $2,800 to the Bollier campaign.
Other celebrity names giving to Bollier include $2,800 each from comedian Chelsea Handler and David Mandel, who was executive producer of “Veep” and a writer for “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Seinfeld” and “Saturday Night Live.”
“Honestly, I am trying to back Democratic candidates across the country both on the federal and state level,” Mandel said in a direct message on Twitter.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, who won a Pulitzer Prize for writing the book, music, and lyrics for the musical “Hamilton,” gave $5,600 to Democrat Michelle De La Isla’s campaign for Congress in the 2nd Congressional District.
The Bollier campaign focused its attention on what it’s raising in Kansas as it battles Republican Congressman Roger Marshall for the U.S. Senate.
“We have been thrilled to see grassroots support from people all across Kansas — including contributions from all 105 counties,” spokeswoman Alexandra De Luca said.
“Barbara raised significantly more from Kansans than Roger Marshall, who has needed to be dragged across the finish line by his Washington, D.C. allies,” she said.
Returning to statehouse races, Mandel also gave to legislative candidates, including $206.66 to Democrat Angela Justus Schweller, who is running for the House, and $202.86 to Democrat Stacey Knoell, who is running for the Senate.
Patricia Arquette, who won an Oscar in 2015 for best supporting actress in “Boyhood,” gave $100 to Schweller’s campaign as well.
Meanwhile, Mark Gordon, producer of “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Criminal Minds,” and blockbuster movies such as “Saving Private Ryan,” gave $500 each to Schweller and Democratic House candidate Cole Fine.
Gordon is the founder of Citizens of the World Charter Schools, which serves more than 1,800 students across four schools in Los Angeles and Kansas City.
Schweller said she thinks the outside fundraising is attributable to efforts to break the GOP supermajority, something she believes was aided when Senate President Susan Wagle publicly talked about redrawing a legislative district to protect an incumbent.
“A lot of it has to do with the fact that people are actively fighting against gerrymandering,” she said. “Some of these funds are specific to stopping gerrymandering.”
Fine also reported a $483.87 contribution from supermodel Karlie Kloss, who is married to Josh Kushner, the brother of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Kloss is supporting Democrat Joe Biden for president.
Fine also received $500 from Eric Schmidt, who served as the CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011.
Fine said he received the contributions through ActBlue, the online site that helps Democrats raise money from small donors and has been used as a way for some groups to connect candidates with donors on a broader scale.
“ActBlue has become such a social network on top of it being a fundraising tool,” Fine said. “It serves as an avenue of spreading a message, and that’s kind of why I think some of these national donors are giving in Kansas.
“ActBlue has really tapped into their ability to be a social network and spread a message of our candidacy across the country,” he said.
“It just happens that it’s also a fundraising asset.”
State Rep. Brett Parker, who has been leading efforts to elect House Democrats, said ActBlue has helped connect candidates to donors.
“I think what we’ve seen a lot of this cycle is different individuals or organizations putting together links that say, ‘Hey, these are a bunch of really important state legislative races around the country,'” Parker said.
He, too, agreed that some of the fundraising efforts have been driven by efforts to ensure that election districts are drawn fairly after the 2020 Census.
For instance, there was a group from New York that used ActBlue to connect a couple of Democratic statehouse candidates with donors around the country to break the supermajority in the Legislature.
Other celebrity donors cropping up on campaign finance reports include TV screenwriter Dan Gregor (married to actress Rachel Bloom), who gave a buck to Lindsey Constance’s Senate campaign.
Gregor was the write and producer for the television shows, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” and “How I Met Your Mother.”
Constance also received $500 from Susan Rockefeller, a New York entrepreneur, conservationist and filmmaker.
Rockefeller is the founder and editor-in-chief of the digital publication Musings. She is a principal of Louverture Films and a member of the film committee for the Museum of Modern Art.
Rockfeller’s husband, David, also gave $500 to Constance. David Rockefeller Jr. is the great grandson of America’s first billionaire, John D. Rockefeller.
Meanwhile, California screenwriter Geoffrey Tock, who cowrote the Netflix science fiction thriller “In the Shadow of the Moon,” gave $260 to state Sen. Joy Koesten’s campaign for the state Senate.
Reeves said the celebrity donations shouldn’t be looked at differently from any other contributions from business and industry.
“Nobody says anything when the Kochs or conservative rock stars donate to anybody running anywhere,” Reeves said.
Reeves notes that the entertainment industry — at least before the pandemic hit — generated billions of dollars for the U.S. economy.
“People love to bash it,” he said, “but there are tons of people who have jobs because of it. You’re not just talking entertainers, you’re talking about movies, theaters, television networks, all that kind of stuff.”
