Maxine Waters' re-election to another term in Congress turned out to be a financial windfall for Karen Waters, the California Democrat's daughter, according to recent federal election data. Apparently, Maxine has cashed in more than $1M for her daughter through the campaigns since 2003. Karen received over $1.1M for her services with her mother's campaigns, $250,000 out of which came from the most recent election cycle, reported the Federal Election Commission. Karen had also organized slate-mailing operations to boost her mother's re-election. Slate-mailing is a rather uncommon practice in federal elections where a consulting firm is hired to create a pamphlet of sorts that contains a list of candidates or policy measures and advises voters how to cast their ballots. Maxine was the only federal politician to use a slate-mailer operation during the 2020 general election, as reports say.
This is a reflection of what Karen received during her mother’s previous campaign in 2018, when she was paid “more than $200,000", according to a November 2018 report by the Washington Free Beacon. The 2018 report also explained that a majority of Karen’s payments were for “slate mailer” services that the daughter provided for the campaign, where Southern California paid Maxine's campaign for endorsement quotes that appeared on mailings sent out to voters on behalf of those other candidates.
Maxine's net worth is estimated to be $2M and it seems as if Karen would have exceeded this limit by quite a margin, though there are no official figures, yet.
The practice of slate-mailing is not a novelty in California, which has seen politicians such as Gavin Newsom use the campaigning method. Vice President Kamala Harris also used the slate-mailers during her 2017 Senate campaign. However, Maxine's daughter is not the only family member who had benefited from the congressional campaigns. A 2004 report by LA Times states that numerous members of Maxine's family had received over $1M during the previous eight years, from business and campaigns that she was involved with.
"They do their business and I do mine," Maxine said during the time. "We are not bad people." Waters made over 30 payments to her daughter during the 2020 campaign cycle, the funds largely going to Slate Mailer Management Fees. Canvassing and office expenses were also listed in the FEC records. There were another two payments directed at Karen for "GOTV" services. Though details of what was involved in the operation are not listed, it is possible "GOTV" could stand for "Get out the vote".
Her filing this year to the FEC implies that her daughter Karen repeated her role from the previous campaign. The newest data is seen across two separate pages of the FEC website, that a newly submitted listing of campaign payments (called a “post-general” filing) that includes more than $28,000 in payouts to Karen, and an earlier submitted listing on a page titled, “Schedule B: Itemized Disbursements,” that includes more than $212,000 in payments.
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