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A dark money group aligned with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has funneled more than $25 million in secretive contributions into the 2022 elections to benefit Senate Democrats, federal filings show.
Majority Forward, a nonprofit that hides its funders, has provided the Senate Majority PAC, which works to elect and maintain Democrats in Congress’s upper chamber, with $27.3 million in donations for the midterms, according to a Fox News Digital review of campaign finance records.
Majority Forward is the largest donor to the Senate Majority PAC, meaning the individuals behind its primary funding source for the 2022 elections are unknown.
Liberal billionaire George Soros, meanwhile, is the PAC’s second-largest backer. The financier added $7.5 million from Democracy PAC and Democracy PAC II, two super PACs he solely bankrolls, the filings show.
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Majority Forward, a dark money nonprofit, is affiliated with the Chuck Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC.
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The shadowy Majority Forward cash helps bolster Democratic Senate candidates across the country, many of which assail the influence of dark money in politics. It also comes on the heels of a record fundraising year from the nonprofit.
Majority Forward raked in $105 million in anonymous contributions between July 2020 and June 2021, Fox News Digital previously reported. The money haul was a $13 million increase over its previous calendar year and a $97 million increase over what it collected during its 2015 inaugural year.
Majority Forward maintains a tight-knit relationship with the Senate Majority PAC. J.B Poersch, a long-time Schumer ally, is president of both the nonprofit and the PAC. The groups also share office space and personnel. Majority Forward has paid nearly $615,000 to the Senate Majority PAC for salaries, insurance and IT security so far for the midterm elections.
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Majority Forward raised $105 million in hidden contributions between July 2020 and June 2021, its fax forms show.
(AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
The Senate Majority PAC has also tested a new tactic this election cycle by propping up at least one Republican primary candidate they viewed as more vulnerable in the general election.
During the Republican Colorado Senate primary last month, an obscure group called Democratic Colorado spent millions supporting the more conservative state Rep. Ron Hanks, who faced off against businessman Joe O’Dea.
Democratic Colorado’s donors were unknown as they poured millions into the primary. But following the release of the group’s first campaign finance report on July 20, The Colorado Sun discovered that the Senate Majority PAC was the sole source of the group’s $4 million in funding.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer routinely criticizes Republicans over dark money despite Democrats benefiting from it far more.
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool)
The tactic backfired, and O’Dea won the primary by nearly 10 percentage points to move on and face Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet in a critical race this November. Democratic Colorado filed a termination report the same day it submitted its first financial report and closed shop.
And while both major political parties benefit from dark money, Democrats have recently exploited it much more as they publicly chastise it.
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During the 2020 elections, the top 15 Democratic dark money nonprofits spent $1.5 billion, while 15 of the most active Republican nonprofits spent around $900 million, the New York Times reported.
The Senate Majority PAC did not respond to a Fox News Digital inquiry on its dark money.
