Democratic PAC Campaigns for Grocery Store Chain Publix to ‘Drain the Traitors’ After Heiress Funds Most of Jan. 6 Trump Rally

Publix Joe Raedle/Getty Images

A left-leaning political action committee is calling for a prominent grocery store chain to “drain the traitors” after an heiress connected to it donated to former President Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 rally in Washington, D.C. that led to unrest in the city and the death of a Capitol police officer.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) issued the call in a Friday email after a Feb. 1 Wall Street Journal report that Julie Jenkins Fancelli, an heiress to the Publix Super Markets chain, donated $300,000 to host the rally, which cost $500,000. Publix said in a statement this week that Fancelli no longer has a connection to the company, but PCCC said in its email that Publix should still take action by halting donations to Republican officials.

“Publix has distanced themselves from the heiress, saying the company says has no role with Publix,” PCCC noted in the email. “But, Publix has remained silent and ignored inquiries about how they’ll respond to the 147 Republican traitors who later that same day voted to overturn our democracy.”

The group added a call asking readers to contact Publix and urge the supermarket chain “to take a stand and commit that their corporate PAC will permanently stop donating to all 147 of the Republican traitors.”

The message came as part of PCCC’s “#DrainTheTraitors” initiative. Numerous groups have said they would permanently stop donating to Republicans after January’s unrest, PCCC noted, including Universal Music Group, Intel, Charles Schwab, Exelon. Several more — including Amazon, Marriott, Walmart, and AT&T — said they would cease donating to Republicans who voted against certifying the 2020 election results.