Since 2016, mega-rich Americans have spent big to shift the political landscape and influence voters to support Democrat candidates. While some of these donors are openly known for spreading the Left’s radical propaganda, many fly under the radar as they work to quietly undermine the Right’s chances of securing the White House.
One of the first liberal donors that comes to mind when thinking about funding used directly to influence the Democratic Party’s radical agenda is billionaire George Soros. He has poured millions of dollars into dark money hubs used by far-left activists to dismantle fundamental American liberties such as law enforcement. He operates a complex network of related nonprofits that has donated more than $32 billion to the Democratic Party. During the 2022 midterms, he cut a personal check of $170 million to Democratic candidates and $140 million to advocacy organizations, making him the biggest donor of the cycle.
He has also donated to left-wing, soft-on-crime district attorneys who are to blame for the country’s ongoing crime issue wreaking havoc on the nation.
In addition to Soros, other big donors are playing a role in the 2024 election by using their dark money to influence the news cycle to combat so-called “Right-wing disinformation.”
Arnold Ventures, founded by John Arnold, operated a network of nonprofits and LLCs that give to liberal organizations. From 2008 to 2018, they donated nearly $1 billion to woke causes. In 2019, Arnold Ventures announced they were changing their philanthropy from a 501(c)(4) nonprofit to an LLC, which allows them to spend unlimited sums influencing elections, legislation, and political issues without having to disclose their revenues, grant recipients, or donors.
Eric Kessler, who founded the philanthropic consulting firm Arabella Advisors in 2005, donated $896 million to liberal groups. One of them is Demand Justice— the group that spent millions of dollars trying to prevent Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh from being confirmed and calling for an expansion of the Supreme Court.
He is also associated with Soros’s Open Society Foundation, where he received $134,943,573 in 162 grants from 2016 to 2021.
The fund acts as a fiscal sponsor to several other Left-wing nonprofits by providing their tax status to those beneath them, which allows them to avoid filing taxes to the IRS.
Another big-liberal donor is Hansjörg Wyss, a Swiss billionaire who has spent millions advocating for the Biden-Harris agenda. The donor has reportedly “quietly [become] one of the most important donors to left-leaning advocacy groups and an increasingly influential force among Democrats.”
However, since he is not a U.S. citizen, Wyss is reportedly not legally allowed to directly or indirectly contribute to federal political candidates and their campaigns.
He has donated more than $253 million to leftist groups connected to Democrats Stacey Abrams and Nancy Pelosi. Wyss has also spent millions on data mining operations that targeted Biden voters and undermined conservatives during the 2022 midterms.
"Sacramento-based dark money group Fund for a Better Future in 2020 gave more than $3 million to Abrams's Fair Fight Action, its tax forms show. Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss is by far Fund for a Better Future's top donor—his advocacy group, Berger Action Fund, gave the dark money group more than $45 million from 2016 to 2020," the Washington Free Beacon reported in 2022.
According to the New York Times, Wyss "has been a leading source of difficult-to-trace money to groups associated with Democrats." More from the NYT:
His political activism is channeled through a daisy chain of opaque organizations that mask the ultimate recipients of his money. But the Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss has quietly become one of the most important donors to left-leaning advocacy groups and an increasingly influential force among Democrats.
Newly obtained tax filings show that two of Mr. Wyss’s organizations, a foundation and a nonprofit fund, donated $208 million from 2016 through early last year to three other nonprofit funds that doled out money to a wide array of groups that backed progressive causes and helped Democrats in their efforts to win the White House and control of Congress last year.
Mr. Wyss’s representatives say his organizations’ money is not being spent on political campaigning. But documents and interviews show that the entities have come to play a prominent role in financing the political infrastructure that supports Democrats and their issues.
The eye-popping money spent by Democrats has been used to impact elections, and the 2024 presidential election is no exception. With two major hotshot Republican candidates— former President Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla)— taking on the current president, the Left surely is going to need all the money they can get as President Joe Biden continues to make his case for why he is not fit to run the country.
Editor's note and clarification: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss "has donated more than $253 million to Democrats such as Stacey Abrams and Nancy Pelosi." Wyss has donated to liberal organizations and non-profits connected to Abrams and Pelosi, not directly to their political campaigns.
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