Liberal Dark Money Group Claiming To Protect ‘Voter Rights’ Funded Deceptive Ad Campaign Meant To Suppress GOP Votes
18th July 2024
A liberal nonprofit that claims to fund “voter rights” initiatives in order to “restor[e] … and activat[e] all voices in the United States” appears to be behind a deceptive anti-Trump ad campaign that tried to discourage Republican voters from taking advantage of mail-in voting.
Global Impact Social Welfare Fund, a little-known dark money group, gave $50,000 to PA Values on June 14, according to Federal Election Commission records. Two days after the donation, PA Values paid $48,000 for an ad that urges “MAGA PATRIOTS” to “stand strong WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP” against mail-in voting. Trump was skeptical of mail-in and absentee voting in the 2020 election, but has since encouraged supporters to vote by those methods in order to “beat the Democrats.”
The ad has stoked blowback, as well as speculation about the origin of the cash behind it. PA Values received contributions several years ago from labor unions and the law firm of Sen. Bob Casey’s (D., Pa.) brother. But it entered this election cycle with an empty bank account, up until the donation from Global Impact Social Welfare Fund. The Trump campaign accused PA Values of election interference over the advertisement, and called for law enforcement to investigate the matter. A liberal election law professor writing at Slate called the ad “borderline criminal” and castigated PA Values for its “trickery and voter suppression.”