The Democratic Party’s 2024 platform released Monday decries the influence of “dark money” on elections despite the party receiving tens of millions of dollars from sources that fit its own definition of dark money.
Democrats warn in their platform that “foreign entities” can use “dark money loopholes” to influence American elections, pointing to 501(c)(4) nonprofits as a major source of anonymously sourced dark money flowing into races. Future Forward Action, a 501(c)(4) group like the ones slammed in the Democratic platform, however, has pumped tens of millions of dollars into Future Forward PAC, the committee President Joe Biden anointed in 2020 as his main super PAC which has since pivoted to supporting Vice President Kamala Harris after she became the party’s presumptive nominee.
“Too much money flows in the shadows to influence our elections,” reads the party’s 2024 platform, which appears to have been drafted prior to Biden’s exit from the race. “Democrats will end ‘dark money’ by requiring full disclosure of contributors and ban 501(c)(4) organizations from spending on elections.”
Future Forward Action, however, poured over $35.6 million into Future Forward PAC this election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission records. Since Future Forward Action is registered as a 501(c)(4) with the Internal Revenue Service, it is not required to disclose its donors.
Future Forward PAC in January began reserving $250 million in advertising space across battleground states, a push it said was the largest single ad purchase by a super PAC in American history, according to the New York Times. The PAC set aside $50 million in July to purchase ads supporting Harris in swing states in the lead-up to this week’s Democratic National Convention, the Associated Press reported.
In addition to funneling money into Future Forward PAC, Future Forward USA Action has also spent tens of millions of dollars directly on advertising to promote the policies of the Biden-Harris administration, according to The Washington Post.
The Democratic platform explicitly laments that “advocacy groups can run ads on issues attacking or supporting a candidate right until Election Day without disclosing who’s paying for that ad.”
“Too often, powerful special interests use front groups to run these ads to win at any cost,” it continues.
Democrats have received more support from dark money groups every election since 2018, according to OpenSecrets. The Sixteen Thirty Fund, one of the largest Democratic-aligned 501(c)(4) organizations, gave roughly $164 million to super PACs and other political organizations in 2020, with many of the outfits funded working to unseat then-President Donald Trump and to expand the Democratic presence in Congress, Politico reported.
The Berger Action Fund, a nonprofit founded by Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss, donated $143 million to the Sixteen Thirty Fund between 2019 and 2022, according to the Capital Research Center. The Democratic platform pledges to “crack down on foreign nationals who try to influence elections” and ban foreign entities from contributing to advocacy groups.
“It’s deeply concerning that a man like Hansjorg Wyss accounts for such a large portion of the Sixteen Thirty Fund’s revenues,” Capital Research Center analyst Parker Thayer previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Federal law prohibits foreign nationals from contributing to PACs in the United States, and the Sixteen Thirty Fund contributes millions every year to Democrats-aligned PACs.”
Democrats will vote on whether or not to approve the platform as it stands Monday night, according to the NYT.
The Democratic National Committee and the Harris campaign did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
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