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GOP Candidate’s PAC Offers Free College Tuition In Exchange For $1 Campaign Donation

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Arjun Singh
July 13, 2023 3:55 PM ET

A super PAC supporting Republican Mayor Francis Suarez of Miami in the GOP presidential primary offered donors contributing $1 to aid his campaign the chance to win a free year of college tuition, according to a video released by the PAC.

The video, created by SOS America PAC, has an image of Suarez with his voice — produced by artificial intelligence (AI) — asking supporters to donate $1 to the PAC, for which they’ll be entered into a contest to have a year of college tuition paid for by the campaign. Because Suarez is legally prohibited from coordinating with the super PAC, AI was used to simulate him delivering the speech.

“AI Francis Suarez here. I’ll cut to the chase. SOS America PAC is giving away a free year of college. Seriously. You can enter now for a chance to win a free year of college,” the AI version of Suarez states in the video, which directs users to a webpage to donate.

At that link, however, the PAC states that it will only cover one year of tuition payments “up to a total of $15,000.” The average cost of undergraduate tuition at a college or university in the United States is $39,723 for private universities and $22,953 for public universities, where the applicant is from outside the state, per the U.S. News and World Report.

The donation webpage also states that “[i]n the event that one year’s worth of tuition payments is less than $15,000, the difference will not be paid to the winner and cannot be redeemed for any other expenses.” It also says that the recipient is responsible for any taxes that must be paid on the award.

“Higher education tuition and fees have more than doubled in 20 years and Joe Biden’s infamous Bidenomics are only making things worse,” the AI version of Suarez states, adding that Suarez “knows the value of an education and has the proven record to increase access to institutions of higher education.”

The PAC’s effort is the latest in a series of creative attempts by Republican presidential candidates to fundraise. Republican Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, who is also a candidate, has promised to send $20 gift cards to the first 50,000 people who donate $1 to his campaign, while Vivek Ramaswamy has offered supporters at least 10% of every donation they fundraise for him.

Burgum and Ramaswamy’s efforts are designed to meet the Republican National Committee’s donation threshold to qualify for its presidential primary debates, which requires at least 40,000 unique donations with 200 unique donors in at least 20 states, among other rules. Donations to PACs, however, do not count toward the requirement.

Most recently, former Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, who is running for president on an anti-Trump platform, announced he’d met the requirement after months of aggressive fundraising.

Suarez recently made headlines for being apparently unaware of the Uyghur genocide in the People’s Republic of China, asking radio host Hugh Hewitt “What’s a Uyghur?”

Suarez’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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