Shawn Griffiths
Photo Credit: Planet Volumes / Unsplash
In an effort to raise awareness about the staggering influence of PAC money in politics, RepresentUs, the nation’s largest grassroots anti-corruption organization, has partnered with OpenSecrets, a go-to source to track the flow of money in US politics.
They launched a new initiative Thursday called “Unpacking Super PACs" with a public service announcement that reveals the billions raised and spent to sway the 2024 election cycle.
According to the video, super PACs and hybrid PACs have already raised $3.5 billion and spent $2.2 billion this election season. What's more, the majority of this funding comes from a small cadre of wealthy donors.
“Big Money is spending more than ever to influence our political system, and it’s working,” said RepresentUs CEO Joshua Graham Lynn. “The American people deserve to know where candidates are getting their funding and who’s trying to influence them.”
Super PACs have become a prominent force within the world of political financing, especially following a number of Supreme Court rulings that have allowed for the relaxation of campaign finance rules created by the very people who run in these campaigns.
The collaboration between RepresentUs and OpenSecrets aims to pull back the veil on these groups.
“This partnership is a thrilling opportunity to deliver insights into money in politics through engaging and educational content,” said OpenSecrets Executive Director Hilary Braseth, who emphasized the importance of transparency in the political financing arena.
“This partnership is a thrilling opportunity to deliver insights into money in politics through engaging and educational content,” she added.
Recent polling suggests that over 70% of Americans support limits on campaign spending, while more than 60% believe that reducing the influence of money in politics should be a priority.
The first video in the Unpacking Super PACs series highlights two significant donors in the 2024 cycle:
Timothy Mellon, who has reportedly contributed over $160 million to Trump-aligned super PACs, and Future Forward USA Action, a “dark money” group backing Democratic-aligned super PACs.
But the sponsors of Unpacking Super PACs promise this is just the beginning. Subsequent content will continue to expose other influential donors and issue-focused super PACs.
According to a press release on the series, as of September 22, the top 1% of donors accounted for an astonishing 99.1% of all money raised by super PACs and hybrid PACs, with the top 100 donors contributing over 63%.
RepresentUS says Unpacking Super PACs aims to empower citizens with the knowledge they need to engage meaningfully in the democratic process.