Liberal dark money groups overshadow conservatives

"Anonymous donors poured record amounts of money into groups backing President Joe Biden in the 2020 contest, leaving the public without a full accounting of who helped him win the White House.

Biden’s presidential bid attracted around $174 million in support from anonymous donors, more than six times the $25.2 million in dark money contributions and spending boosting President Donald Trump’s unsuccessful re-election effort.

Future Forward USA, a new hybrid PAC, poured around $100 million into ads backing Biden in the presidential race and took nearly $61 million from its affiliated 501(4) nonprofit in the final months of the election.

Each of the top pro-Biden super PACs, including Future Forward USA, American Bridge 21st Century, Priorities USA Action and Unite the Country, received multi-million dollar contributions from the Sixteen Thirty Fund. The expansive secret donor network poured more than $57 million into liberal political committees at the federal level during the 2020 election cycle. Anti-Trump 501(4) nonprofit Defending Democracy Together also chipped in, spending more than $15 million opposing Trump or boosting Biden.

After years of dark money overwhelmingly boosting Republicans, this marks the first presidential election cycle where dark money benefited Democrats. That’s a continuation from the 2018 midterm elections when Democrats benefited from more dark money than their Republican counterparts at the federal level for the first time since Citizens United."