Meet the 23-Year-Old Student Who Raised $25 Million in Democratic Losses

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/us/politics/democrats-fundraising-florida.html

https://archive.ph/XdcE3

Meet the 23-Year-Old Student Who Raised $25 Million in Democratic Losses
A law student in Florida has a lucrative side gig: fund-raising consultant. His firm earns a 25 percent cut of “profit” from donations, and critics have begun to pile up after two special elections.
By Shane Goldmacher
April 4, 2025 Updated 11:19 a.m. ET

After the Democratic candidates in Florida’s special elections burned through millions and millions of dollars on the way to double-digit losses this week, some Democrats are asking where that money deluge came from — and where it all went.

The answer to both questions is, in part, a 23-year-old law student and dungeon master — in Dungeons & Dragons — with a lucrative side gig.

In between classes and fantasy play, Jackson McMillan is also the chief executive of Key Lime Strategies, a small fund-raising firm in Florida that scored big when it landed as clients the two Democratic nominees in the Florida congressional elections, Josh Weil and Gay Valimont. Mr. McMillan said they had combined to raise $25 million.

“We’ve built a juggernaut,” he said in an interview.

Along the way, Mr. McMillan has piled up critics far beyond his years. Much of the focus is on his unusual fee structure, which one top party official excoriated in a cease-and-desist letter as “exorbitant.” His firm received a 25 percent cut of “true profits” — the proceeds after fund-raising expenses — for both special elections.

Mr. McMillan is unapologetic.

Stefan Smith, a digital strategist who is head of digital engagement at the American Civil Liberties Union, called the 25-percent-of-profits fee structure “absurd” and said the races had diverted donor money from more urgent priorities under false pretenses of competitiveness.

“Democrats are experiencing the largest trust gap we’ve experienced in a generation, and we are not going to win that back by letting predators roam freely across the digital ecosystem,” Mr. Smith said, speaking in his personal capacity. “It is on all of us to hunt them to extinction.”

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[lostnfound]

1. Their messaging was deceptive and extremely annoying

I did not donate and i found the messages to be dishonest. “Down by only 40 votes” or some such nonsense.. For a second I would think it was votes coming in, election returns or something. I found these dishonest.