According to Real Clear Politics, secretive liberal dark-money groups spent hundreds of millions of dollars to boost Democrats’ 2022 midterm ground game.
By mid-2021, the latest tax filings available, the nation’s largest liberal dark-money network had already raked in some $1.5 billion for the midterm elections. The final number is almost certainly much higher, as groups affiliated with Arabella Advisors, a D.C. consulting firm that works with a network of nonprofits bankrolling liberal and progressive causes, kept collecting and spending in the months leading up to the November midterms.
For instance, the Hopewell Fund, a 501(c)3 that is part of the Arabella network, reported spending $89 million in 2021 on civil rights advocacy and social actions, including “improving civic engagement among underrepresented groups.” The Sixteen Thirty Fund, a 501(c)4, which has greater legal latitude in conducting partisan turnout efforts, said it spent $76.65 million in 2021 on a “broad array of projects” promoting “civil rights, social action, and advocacy” including “working to ensure voting access and civic participation.”
“Buried in tax forms, you’ll see billions in dark money have been spent propping up extremist politicians, radically transforming election laws, and shoring up voter turnout,” Caitlin Sutherland, executive director for Americans for Public Trust told RealClearPolitics. “And one network is behind it all: Arabella Advisors. This dark money machine has perfected the art of weaponizing grassroots voter contact and backroom D.C. deals to an unprecedented level not seen on the right.”
