More than $220 million from “dark money” nonprofits has already flowed into super PACs spending money on presidential campaigns.
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris attends a campaign event at Divine Faith Ministries International on October 20, 2024 in Jonesboro, Georgia. (Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images)
Kamala Harris’ campaign has a significant advantage over Donald Trump’s in super PAC contributions from secretive “dark money” groups.
A super PAC supporting Ms. Harris has raised at least $195.8 million from underground finance groups this election cycle, and a super PAC supporting Mr. Trump has raised at least $195.8 million from underground finance groups this election cycle, according to a Sludge analysis of Federal Election Commission data. It raised $20.2 million.
These dark money groups are organized as social welfare organizations or trade associations, both of which are nonprofit and are not required by the Internal Revenue Service to disclose their donors.
To conduct this analysis, Sludge analyzed contributions to the 30 super PACs that spent the most on independent spending targeting Trump or Harris. There are nearly 300 super PACs spending independently in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, but the 30 largest account for 89% of total spending. This analysis does not consider associations, LLCs, or family trusts to be loan shark groups. It also does not include so-called “gray money” organizations, which disclose their donors but receive some funding from undisclosed organizations.
“The public has a right to know who is trying to influence their votes and who is trying to rally support for political candidates through large donations to outside groups such as super PACs and underground finance groups. “Yes,” said Michael Becker, director of research at Crossmedia. Partisan Group Issues 1. “Wealthy special interests can use dark money donations to court their preferred candidates without public scrutiny.”
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