Last Updated on January 29, 2021
Even as he and his cohort House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-NY), feign outrage at dark money in politics, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), benefited from over $47.8 million in dark money contributions I his effort to retake the Senate in the 2020 General Election cycle.
In total, the nonprofit political advocacy group Majority Forward, an organization with direct ties to Schumer’s Senate Majority PAC, delivered $57.4 million to super PACs that campaigned for Democrats to regain the majority in the upper chamber of Congress
This far eclipses the $6.2 million Majority Forward infused into partisan election activity in the 2016 and 2018 cycles combined, an increase of 825 percent.
Majority Forward is not required under the 501c tax codes to disclose its donors, making it nearly impossible to identify who the big money donors were who backed Schumer’s efforts.
Majority Forward, a dark money group aligned with @SenSchumer, ramped up its anonymous election cash by 825 percent in the 2020 cycle, filings show.
Via @JoeSchoffstallhttps://t.co/B0DxrEsAC8
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) January 27, 2021
Majority Forward’s revenue spike was the result of a record-breaking fundraising haul from mid-2018 to mid-2019. During that time, the group accepted $76 million in anonymous donations, apparently from the super-rich who didn’t want their names openly attached to Schumer.
During that same 12-month span, Majority Forward issued tens of millions to other Left-wing dark money nonprofits for, among other purposes, the bankrolling of voter engagement efforts around the country.
Majority Forward’s largest donation, $14.8 million, went to America Votes, a 501(c)(4) tax exempt organization. It was later revealed that America Votes, an organization tied to failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, was under investigation in Georgia for reportedly sending ballot applications to non-residents and the deceased.
Under the cover of portraying itself as a Get Out The Vote organization, a larger portion of its proceeds – $47.8 million – went to Schumer’s Senate Majority PAC, this according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Both groups – Majority Forward and the Senate Majority PAC – are led by J.B. Poersch, a Schumer ally. Both organizations share personnel and office space.
When Dems like Sheldon Whitehouse & Chuck Schumer claim to care about dark money, know that they're hypocrites who just want to silence conservatives
You know what, feel free to contact Schumer's dark money allies and ask if they agree with him that they should disclose donors pic.twitter.com/QVAhQJDpOD
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) January 26, 2021
Democrats have long disingenuously railed against the “dark money” in politics but they has consistently outpaced Republicans in exploiting the finance reporting loophole.
The Center for Responsive Politics reported that in the 2020 election cycle, $326 million in dark funds were gleaned and used by Democrats. Conversely less than half that – $148 million – was utilized by Republicans.
In fact, Schumer’s allied groups have benefited from the employment of dark money funding even as he and other leaders, including US Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), have stalked Right-leaning groups in efforts to force them to make public their donor lists regardless of the legal shield allowed them by the tax codes.
