Democrats Believe Dark Money Should Be Illegal Unless It Benefits Them

House Democrats are launching a new dark money group, the exact same type of outside group they have been repeatedly railing on in speeches and sought to curtail in their first priority piece of legislation — H.R. 1. 

The group’s first ad contains a boast about curtailing secret dark money in politics, “which largely flows through 501(c)(4) nonprofits similar to House Majority Forward.” 

Politico: “One of the early bills House Democrats passed this year was a sweeping government reform measure that targeted, among other things, “dark money” in politics. But Democrats involved in the planning for House Majority Forward said they weren’t concerned about using a secret-money group to back lawmakers who ran on getting secret money out of politics in the 2018 midterm election.”

House Majority Forward is mimicking Majority Forward, the Senate Democrats’ secret money group. Watchdog groups have described the relationship within the Senate pairing as “ridiculously cozy.”

The Senate Democrats’ secret money group Majority Forward was the “top dark money spender during the 2018 cycle,” shelling out roughly $46 million in outside spending. And as a reminder, liberals dominated in ad cash spending from dark money groups during the 2018 cycle.

WSJ: “Liberal groups accounted for 54% of the $150 million in dark-money spending in last year’s election cycle.”

Majority Forward is off to a fast start for 2020, spending at least $234,000 in television ads against Republicans in January 2019.

House Majority Forward adds another cabal to Democrats’ collection of secret money groups gearing up for 2020 spending. In April, Democrats launched Future Majority, a $60 million secret money group aiming to change midwesterners’ minds about the increasingly coastal focused Democratic party.