Another dead person appears to have donated to Republican David Flippo’s campaign for Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District.
In its latest financial disclosure with the Federal Election Commission, the Flippo campaign credited Nevada resident Val Sheldon with contributing $143.56 on Oct. 13.
One problem: The only woman matching Val Sheldon’s information on the filing died in 2019, according to published obituaries from the time reviewed by The Washington Sun. Federal election law generally prohibits political contributions from the deceased, unless someone, prior to their death, arranges “testamentary bequests” to political candidates through their estate.
That doesn’t appear to be the case with Val Sheldon. The Flippo campaign reattributed the $143.56 donation to her after splitting it from a $3,643.56 contribution credited to another Nevada resident named Bret Sheldon — but Bret Sheldon said he knew nothing of this reattribution until The Sun contacted him on Tuesday.
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Bret Sheldon’s sister-in-law was Val Sheldon, and he told The Sun he does not know anyone else with that name. He added that the Flippo campaign had not contacted him or received his written consent before reattributing his contribution, which is required under FEC guidelines.
Asked whether the Flippo campaign attributed the donation to someone who’s dead, Thomas Datwyler, Flippo’s campaign treasurer, told The Sun he was “looking into it.”
“Of course, the liberal media is at it again: a $130 contribution under question, in a campaign with over 5,500 individual contributions and $2 million raised for this campaign,” Datwyler added in a statement to The Sun.
While a three-figure political contribution isn’t much money in a race that’s already cost millions of dollars, it may represent a pattern for Flippo. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that the Flippo campaign accepted a $7,000 contribution from Marilynn Mack, which is double the federal limit per election, and reattributed the excess $3,500 to the donor’s mother, Joyce Mack — a well-known Nevada philanthropist who died in 2024.
Rory McShane, a Flippo spokesperson, blamed a clerical error.
Bret Sheldon made a $3,500 donation to Flippo’s campaign after Flippo himself contacted him a few weeks ago. While making his donation, Sheldon opted to cover the payment processing fee, which amounted to $143.56, for his contribution through WinRed — a political fundraising platform used by the Republican Party. WinRed did not respond to a request for comment.
Flippo’s campaign did not answer questions or provide documentation that it had received written confirmation from Bret Sheldon or the individual named Val Sheldon before making the reattribution. The campaign also did not share how it initially identified Val Sheldon.
The dead-donor contributions are the latest troubles for Flippo, who has faced a slew of controversies during his campaign, including campaign finance violations, accusations of exaggerating his military record and questionable circumstances surrounding multiple firings in previous jobs.
Flippo is now in the midst of an unexpectedly tight race against Democrat Theresa Benitez-Thompson in Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District, which President Donald Trump won by double digits in 2020 and 2024.
Benitez-Thompson has attempted to capitalize on Flippo’s controversies, including by running an ad cataloguing Flippo’s troubles.
“Northern Nevadans deserve better than an out-of-town conman who inflates his military record, helps run an apparent Ponzi-like scheme, and hides his personal finances while self-funding his campaign and lying about his donors,” Benitez-Thompson said in a statement to The Sun. “I’m running for Congress because I want to serve our community, not myself or special interests.”
Flippo has called Benitez-Thompson “too radical for Nevada” and posted a clip to X of Trump — who endorsed Flippo ahead of the competitive Republican primary — calling her “crazy” during a recent telerally.
Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District has been held by Republicans for over 40 years. A Republican loss here would further damage the party’s already waning chances of preserving a House majority.
But retiring Rep. Mark Amodei, a Republican who’s represented the area for more than a decade, told The Sun he believes Flippo is an “absolutely flawed candidate.”
“You just sit here looking at this stuff, it’s like it all looks like bullshit to me,” Amodei told The Sun. “I’m going to say this ain’t my guy.”
Amodei has been open about voting for independent candidate Lynn Chapman in the general election.
Flippo has reported loaning his campaign more than $1.8 million to date. His campaign has faced a slew of campaign finance scrutiny over the last few months, prompting three formal complaints against the candidate. The Nevada Republican also missed the May 15 filing deadline for his required financial disclosure and never filed one for his 2024 congressional campaign.
Flippo eventually completed the document by hand, citing technical difficulties, and provided a copy to The Nevada Independent last month. The financial disclosure still does not appear on the website for the U.S. House Clerk’s Office, which has 30 days to publicly post any reports it has received, as of Thursday.
Mother Jones published several reports cataloguing some mysterious donations to Flippo’s campaign and his connection to one donor with a series of alleged fraud and bad-business dealings levied against him.
Flippo has also faced a string of personal controversies stemming from his career in the financial services industry and his military record. The Washington Post reported last month that Flippo may have been inflating certain details about his military achievements, but the campaign attributed any discrepancies to “honest mistakes” by staff members.
The circumstances surrounding Flippo’s firings as an aircraft maintenance squad commander in 2008 and as a financial adviser in 2024 have also been called into question, but the Nevada Republican’s campaign has largely dismissed the reports as politically motivated attacks and asserted that his “financial licenses are in good standing and active.”
Amodei told The Sun that the information in these reports raises questions about the vetting process Flippo went through before earning the Republican nomination.
“This is all about these guys trying to win, and I get that,” Amodei said, referencing Flippo’s campaign staff. “But the ends justifies the means on steroids is what this feels like.”
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