Citizens United v. FEC, a Supreme Court decision allowing corporations, nonprofits, and unions to pour money into political campaigns, benefits the Democratic Party far more than the GOP. An analysis of so-called “dark money” — effectively untraceable political donations filtered through corporations or 501(c)4 nonprofits that do not have to identify their donors — shows the Democrats have been significantly outpacing the Republicans for years.
In 2018, the Democrats pulled in $83 million in dark money, compared to $74 million for the Republicans. The gap widened substantially in 2020, with the Democrats pulling in $455 million in dark money compared to $185 million for the Republicans. It closed slightly in 2022, a less critical election year, but the Democrats still enjoyed a huge advantage: $316 million in dark money donations compared to $263 million for the GOP.
Organizations such as Arabella Advisors are raising even greater sums to advance far-left and progressive politics more broadly.
Speaking to The Arizona Sun-Times, political consultant Jim Dornan warned that much of this dark money comes from foreign states such as Saudi Arabia and Iran. While it is technically illegal for foreigners to contribute to political campaigns, the aforementioned disclosure rules make it extremely difficult to trace the source of donations, often filtered through shell companies, without litigation.
MEGADONORS.
Leftist plutocrats are also grossly distorting state races, with Wisconsin Democracy Campaign executive director Matt Rothschild noting that “[n]early 40 percent of the Wisconsin Democrats’ funding in 2024 has come from one man: Reid Hoffman” — while in-state funding for the Wisconsin Democrats accounts for just three percent of their war chest.
Hoffman, a founder of LinkedIn and guest of Jeffrey Epstein’s private island, has been donating to all manner of causes to damage Donald Trump. These include E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit against Trump, the far-left MeidasTouch Network, and even Nimarata ‘Nikki’ Haley’s GOP primary campaign.
Republican Senator Josh Hawley has proposed legislation to rein in dark money by barring publicly traded companies, at least, from making certain political donations. Other groups, such as American Promise, are campaigning for a constitutional amendment allowing individual states the power to regulate untraceable donations.
