Alexandria, VA – Today, Americans for Public Trust released a new version of its report detailing Sixteen Thirty Fund’s millions of dollars of spending in state ballot issue campaigns. In just six months since the original report was released, this foreign-backed dark money group has funneled millions more dollars into these campaigns, bringing their cycle-to-date ballot issue campaign spending to nearly $23 million. In total, Sixteen Thirty Fund has poured more than $115 million into ballot issue campaigns over the last several election cycles.
State ballot issue campaigns are currently underway in numerous states, and the goals are twofold:
1) Allow citizens to sidestep the typical legislative process and place important policy issues directly on the ballot, and
2) Drive voter turnout to impact concurrent, contested political elections.
Click here to read the updated report on foreign dark money funding state ballot initiatives.
“It is irresponsible and alarming that our laws leave the door open to foreign nationals and U.S. adversaries influencing American politics. Our report reveals that Sixteen Thirty Fund alone is acting as a conduit for massive amounts of money from a foreign billionaire who has an expressed desire to reshape U.S. politics to align with his out-of-touch worldview. After years of national discourse about fears of foreign influence in our elections, this commonsense proposal to close this foreign influence loophole should be something everyone can support.” – Caitlin Sutherland, Americans for Public Trust
Fast Facts
- Hansjörg Wyss, a Swiss billionaire, has funneled at least $243 million to the dark money group Sixteen Thirty Fund.
- Sixteen Thirty Fund has invested over $115 million in ballot campaigns across 25 states over the last 10 years.
- As of October 2024, Sixteen Thirty Fund has funneled nearly $23 million and counting to state ballot initiatives this election cycle.
- In the last six months, the Sixteen Thirty Fund has dumped over $17 million more dollars into state ballot campaigns.
- Top 2024 targets such as Ohio, Montana, Missouri, Arizona, and Nevada are among the states with ballot initiatives this cycle that have seen the most foreign dark money funding.
- Federal law prohibits foreign nationals from contributing to candidates and Super PACs, but there is no federal prohibition against foreign nationals funding ballot issue campaigns.
- State and federal lawmakers should work to close this “foreign influence loophole.”
