‘Dark money’ groups aligned with party leadership steer hundreds of millions of dollars into 2022 federal elections

“Dark money” groups aligned with the Republican and Democratic parties’ congressional leadership have steered more than $295 million from secret donors into 2022 federal elections, a new OpenSecrets analysis found. 

Of that, about $142 million went to TV and online ads boosting or attacking candidates, according to data provided to OpenSecrets by ad tracking firm AdImpact. Over $153 million more was funneled into political contributions to groups like super PACs. But none of the party-aligned 501(c)(4) nonprofits have disclosed any spending — or their donors — to the Federal Election Commission during the 2022 election cycle.

Dark money groups are not required to disclose any of this spending to the FEC, as none of the 2022 ads explicitly call for an election outcome and none of the ads that aired on TV or radio during the FEC’s disclosure window in the 60 days before Election Day on Nov. 8 call explicitly call for a candidate’s election or defeat.

Instead, the groups spent only on issue advocacy ads attacking or boosting 2022 candidates without explicitly calling for their election or defeat before the 60-day window.

“Dark money groups have all but disappeared from the airwaves, in part to avoid the required reporting window for disclosing any election-related spending in the fall general election period,” a new Wesleyan Media Project report in partnership with OpenSecrets found.

The four party-aligned dark money dark money groups were no exception, halting spending on traditional ads before the disclosure period. But the super PACs and hybrid PACs they fund have continued to spend, and the dark money groups have continued to pay for online ads that are not subject to the same disclosure rules as traditional TV and radio ads. 

Online ads boosting or attacking candidates are not required to be disclosed to the FEC even in the weeks leading up to Election Day so long as they don’t expressly advocate for a candidate’s election or defeat.

One Nation tops dark money spending on 2022 midterm elections

No dark money group has poured more money into 2022 elections than One Nation, a 501(c)(4) dark money group aligned with Senate Republican leadership that has poured more than $124 million into political contributions and ad spending during the 2022 election cycle but has yet to disclose any spending to the FEC.

One Nation is the top 2022 cycle funder of Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that shares its staff and offices with One Nation.

Over the course of the 2022 cycle, Senate Leadership Fund spent more than any other super PAC or outside group with about $230 million in spending as of Nov. 3. During that time, the super PAC received more than $53 million from One Nation.

In addition to being the primary funder of Senate Leadership Fund, One Nation is also a major spender in its own right. 

AdImpact has tracked at least $71 million in TV and online spending directly by One Nation, with much of that attacking candidates in many of the same races that Senate Leadership Fund has weighed in on. 

The Senate GOP-aligned dark money group’s recent Facebook ads lambaste Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) – a House member running for Senate in Ohio against Republican J.D. Vance — over voting “for a bill that allowed COVID relief funds to be wasted on frivolous projects in other states while Ohio is suffering.”

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D–Nev.) is another target of some of One Nation’s recent online ads, which proclaim “Senator Cortez Masto and DC liberals voted to allow more than $1 billion to be spent on stimulus checks for criminals in prison!”

Sen. Mark Kelly (D–Ariz.) has also been a target of attack ads paid for by One Nation, including Facebook ads with messages like “Arizonans are already suffering because of inflation, and Sen. Kelly’s vote made things worse by raising taxes on middle-class families.” 

This is not the first time that One Nation has steered anonymously-sourced funds into federal elections. One Nation poured more dark money into 2020 elections than any other group – with over $125 million going to contributions and ads – but reported none of that spending to the FEC, OpenSecrets found.

After topping the list of 2020 cycle dark money spenders, One Nation started the 2022 cycle with $11 million. Despite a record fundraising haul, One Nation spent more than $195 million in 2020 — over $23 million more than it raised that year, according to OpenSecrets’ review of its most recent tax return. 

In total, One Nation raised and spent about $220 million during the two-year 2020 election cycle, according to OpenSecrets’ review of its tax records. 

Dark money boosting Democrats

While several Senate Democrats have taken public stances against dark money, they have also been among its biggest beneficiaries.

Majority Forward – the main dark money group aligned with Democratic Senate leadership – has poured more than $74 million into political contributions and ads boosting Democratic Senate candidates since the start of the 2022 election cycle 

Senate Majority PAC, an affiliated super PAC aligned with Senate Democratic leadership that shares staff and resources with the dark money group – has received nearly $48 million from Majority Forward. Some $20 million of that came on Oct. 11, OpenSecrets’ review of new pre-general FEC reports found. 

Majority Forward also helped seed “pop-up” super PACs. A “pop-up” group called 53 Peaks that sponsored ads attacking Joe O’Dea, the Republican challenger to Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), was fully funded by a $3 million contribution from Majority Forward, the Colorado Sun recently reported.

Senate Majority PAC has also moved money around to groups spending to influence Senate elections in several states, often obfuscating ties between the national party leadership-aligned group and the state-focused pop-up super PACs funding ads until after voters go to the polls. Georgia Honor, a super PAC entirely funded by Senate Majority PAC, has spent $37 million opposing the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate in Herschel Walker and $1.5 million boosting incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D–Ga.).

In addition to pouring money into political contributions, Majority Forward has also spent millions of dollars on TV ads and about $250,000 on Facebook ads during the 2022 cycle.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) is a top target of Majority Forward’s recent ads in what was a “toss up race until Friday, when Cook Political Report shifted its rating of Wisconsin’s Senate race from a “toss up” to “leans Republican.”

The dark money groups’ video ads have urged voters to push Johnson to “support Medicare and Social Security, not to put them on the chopping block.” But like One Nation, Majority Forward stopped airing TV ads around the FEC’s disclosure window and continued to spend on online ads. 

“Ron Johnson blocked commonsense gun safety,” online ads that have appeared on Snapchat and Facebook state, noting the senator also “opposed funding for community policing.” 

One ad notes that guns are the leading cause of death for children, asking “Why isn’t Senator Johnson doing his part to protect our families?” “Ron Johnson supported banning abortion,” the narrator in another other ad paid for by Majority Forward reads. 

Since Majority Forward launched the Wisconsin Forward Facebook page in February, it has paid for more than $336,000 in ads targeting Johnson. The dark money group has also paid to run similar ads attacking Johnson on Snapchat. 

Several of Majority Forward’s most recent Facebook ads also boost Sen. Maggie Hassan (N.H.). with messages like “Tell Senator Hassan to keep working to lower taxes for New Hampshire’s middle class.” 

In addition to its own Facebook page, Majority Forward has paid for ads boosting Hassan under the auspices of Granite State Strong, a Facebook page with ads such as “​​Tell Senator Maggie Hassan to keep getting things done to lower health care costs. “ 

Dark money in the House 

While dark money groups aligned with Senate leadership are the top spenders, groups aligned with House leadership have also steered millions of dollars from secret donors into 2022 elections. 

Like the other party-aligned dark money groups, American Action Network – a 501(c)(4) nonprofit aligned with House Republican leadership – has poured about $75 million into political contributions and ads influencing 2022 elections, according to OpenSecrets’ analysis of federal campaign finance filings and AdImpact data. But the dark money group has yet to disclose any 2022 spending to the FEC.

American Action Network has spent more than $30.7 million of that on TV and online ads, according to AdImpact. 

The dark money group steered another $44 million to Congressional Leadership Fund, House Republicans’ super PAC aligned with Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) that shares its staff and resources.

Congressional Leadership Fund has spent $195.3 million to influence 2022 House elections as of Nov. 3 and recently launched an $11 million ad campaign covering the final two weeks before Election Day.

House Majority Forward — the main dark money group aligned with congressional Democrats – has spent more than $12.9 million on TV and online ads, according to AdImpact. 

In addition to paying for online ads under its own name, House Majority Forward has also bankrolled over $1.6 million Facebook ads as the Citizens Bulletin since the page launched in September 2021. 

The Citizens Bulletin ads boost Democratic congressional candidates by linking to semi-related articles about the candidates on mainstream news websites. Posts that include links to news sites deemed to be “high quality” based on Facebook’s “news ecosystem quality” scores — a “secret internal ranking” assigned to news publishers based on “the quality of their journalism” — tend to show up higher in users’ feeds due to the social media platform’s algorithm.

During the 2022 cycle, House Majority Forward also steered about $6 million more to House Majority PAC, a hybrid PAC aligned with House Democratic leadership that shares resources with the dark money group. House Majority PAC received $2 million of that in October, according to OpenSecrets’ review of new FEC filings covering the final weeks leading up to Election Day.

Aligned with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Majority PAC reported raising about $156.5 million and spending over $89 million from the start of the 2022 election cycle through October 19, federal campaign finance filings show. 

Senate Democrats’ dark money group fuels other

OpenSecrets’ review of tax returns found that Majority Forward ended the first six months of the 2022 election cycle with just about $108,000 after raising roughly 100 times that amount with $105 million in revenue from June 30, 2020 through July 1, 2021.

During that period, Majority Forward gave more than $32 million to America Votes between June 30, 2020, through July 1, 2021  — more than the left-leaning 501(c)(4) nonprofit raised in its entire prior fiscal year. America Votes reported over $245 million in total revenue from June 30, 2020, to July 1, 2021, in its most recent tax return. 

According to a new Washington Post analysis, America Votes is a top 10 organization donor — with more than $10 million in political contributions — to Democratic super PACs that are spending on 2022 federal elections. While the group has promoted voter registration for several years, OpenSecrets tracked a record $59 million in federal political contributions from the group during the 2020 election cycle, a jump from $14 million during the 2018 cycle and less than $700,000 during its first year operating in 2016. 

In 2020, America Votes was fueled in part by a whopping $129 million from Sixteen Thirty Fund, making it the dark money behemoth’s largest beneficiary that year. 

America Votes recently faced scrutiny for sending mailers pressuring the recipient to vote with reminders that voter turnout history is a public record, a practice known as “vote shaming.” 

“Who you vote for is private, but whether you vote is a matter of public records. We will be reviewing public records after the election to determine whether or not you joined your neighbors in voting,” the mailers read.