U.S. Senate candidate Raja Krishnamoorthi on Monday said he might “revisit” contributions from Shyam Sankar, a prolific Republican campaign contributor who is chief technology officer for Palantir, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contractor.
That was after the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Krishnamoorthi, who has raised $24 million for his Senate bid, has accepted more than $90,000 in contributions from key Trump and MAGA contributors including Sankar. Palantir has a $30 million contract with ICE to provide tools to track self-deportation. The company has been an ICE contractor since 2011.
This year alone, Sankar has given at least $260,000 to Republican political causes, including $250,000 to the Republican National Committee. He also has contributed $29,300 to Schaumburg Democrat Krishnamoorthi, a U.S. representative, since 2015, including $3,500 to his Senate campaign committee in June.
Speaking Monday on “CNN’s News Central,” Krishnamoorthi was asked about Sankar’s contributions and whether he opposes the services Palantir provides to ICE.
“I don’t want anybody providing ICE with tools that could be used to somehow racially profile people or discriminate against anybody,” Krishnamoorthi said of Palantir. “They are out of control at this point. And so what ICE is doing, especially in my district and in Chicago, is completely unacceptable.”
The congressman called ICE operations “disconcerting” but said, “Nobody’s more anti-MAGA than me.
“This story is being written because that donation appears to go counter — you don’t support this particular kind of service, and yet you’re accepting some financial support from Palantir’s CTO,” CNN’s Brianna Keilar told Krishnamoorthi. “Does that give you pause about that donation? Is that something you might revisit?”
Krishnamoorthi replied, “Yes.”
Supporters of another Senate candidate, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, asked Krishnamoorthi in a letter to “return or donate” contributions from people and entities connected to ICE enforcement or MAGA-aligned political efforts. Signers included state Sen. Cristina Castro, state Sen. Adriane Johnson, Cook County Commissioner Tara Stamps and at least 30 others.
“We write to express our deep concern and disappointment regarding your acceptance of contributions from an individual closely tied to ICE operations and to political efforts that have supported or enabled cruel immigration enforcement, including against our neighbors in Chicago and across Illinois,” the letter said.
Krishnamoorthi’s campaign told the Sun-Times the contributions from Trump allies, including Sankar, represented .2% of the more than $24 million he has raised. A campaign spokesperson said Krishnamoorthi has more than 80,000 individual contributors and “welcomes anyone who supports” his mission.
His Senate campaign did not provide details about what Krishnamoorthi might do about Sankar’s contributions.
According to the Federal Election Commission, a campaign committee can return a contribution only within 10 days of getting the money, which means it’s too late to give back Sankar’s contribution, which came in June.
But the congressman instead could give the money to charity. Krishnamoorthi donated money received from a corporate political action committee for Elon Musk’s SpaceX to charity before launching his Senate run, according to NBC. Krishnamoorthi had accepted a $5,000 contribution from SpaceX to his congressional campaign fund in September 2024.