New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker swears he doesn’t want a super PAC supporting his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. But he’s finding out he doesn’t have much say in the matter.

Steve Phillips, a wealthy Democratic donor and operative who was a classmate of Booker’s at Stanford University, wrote in an e-mail to allies on Thursday that he’s creating a super PAC, Dream United, to support Booker’s candidacy.

Super PACs, which are allowed to raise unlimited sums from a single donor, provided they don’t coordinate with the candidate they support, have become increasingly unpopular in Democratic politics as voters look askance at the influence of corporations, lobbyists and big donors on policymaking.

In the 2016 Republican presidential primary, essentially every candidate — save now-President Donald Trump — had a wealthy-donor-funded super PAC airing television ads. The 2020 Democratic race is shaping up differently, with all Democratic candidates to enter the presidential race so far, including Booker, insisting they don’t want the support of super PACs.

In an email to HuffPost, Booker spokesman Jeff Giertz didn’t directly say Phillips should shut down the super PAC but reiterated the senator’s stance.

“Cory is building a movement powered by grassroots donations,” Giertz wrote. “Cory 2020 is rejecting contributions from corporate PACs and federal lobbyists. Cory opposes super PACs aiming to support his or anyone’s candidacy for president.”

Phillips, a civil rights lawyer and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, has long financially supported African-American candidates, including President Barack Obama, California Sen. Kamala Harris and Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. Phillips is the author of Brown Is The New White, which argues that Democrats should win power by focusing on courting voters of color instead of white swing voters.

In an interview in January, Phillips said he would use the money to persuade and turn out voters of color in key states to back Booker.