A GOP feud is spilling out into the open over the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) as the organization seeks its next leader.
Last month, President Trump’s campaign co-manager, Chris LaCivita, called RAGA a “joke” in a tweet that urged high-flying GOP donors to shake up the organization. His remarks about the state AG campaign arm could be a subtweet of influential arch-conservative legal activist Leonard Leo.
LaCivita’s tweet mentions a seemingly obscure issue: “They have been using a search firm that knows nothing of politics - for a new ED.” His tweet argues that not having a campaign expert atop the organization could hamper Republican AG causes in states.
The RAGA website’s jobs page invites applicants to send their resumes to an email address at the executive search firm CarterBaldwin. The firm was also tapped last year by the conservative Federalist Society, of which Leo has been a leader for decades, to find its new president and CEO. Upon the selection of the Federalist Society’s new president in December (Walmart senior lead counsel Sheldon Gilbert), CarterBaldwin’s website featured praise of the hire from Leo.
RAGA’s head of six years, Peter Bisbee, resigned at the end of last year. After the November elections, RAGA celebrated a pickup in Pennsylvania, giving the GOP a record 29 attorneys general nationwide.
LaCivita’s tweet about RAGA got a response from Casey Phillips, a GOP media consultant, who wrote, “You can thank Chris Jankowski for destroying that organization for his own gain.”
Jankowski is a longtime GOP operative who previously worked for the Republican State Leadership Committee, making his name with the 2010 Project REDMAP redistricting push. Over the years, Jankowski has been named as a consultant to Leo’s network, including as the creator of the Marble Freedom Trust.
The Marble Freedom Trust, run by Leo, was the recipient of a historic $1.6 billion donation in 2021 from industrialist Barre Seid, reporting by ProPublica and The Lever found.
Leo has been a key Trump legal advisor, “judge whisperer” for short, on Trump’s judicial picks in 2016 and on a consequential trio of Supreme Court nominations. For decades, Leo’s groups have worked to undermine access to abortion rights and medication like mifepristone.
LaCivita’s tweet is a sign that Trump’s allies want more control over strategy and spending in state AG races as they pursue the MAGA agenda over the next four years. State AGs are already enmeshed in legal battles over the Trump administration’s rapid moves to limit birthright citizenship and freeze federal loan programs, among other areas.
RAGA and Leo’s Funder Ties
RAGA raises tens of millions of dollars annually in donations from “dark money” groups, corporate interests, and billionaire megadonors.
For the past decade, the Concord Fund, a Leo-controlled funding vehicle, has been the largest donor to RAGA, according to information in tax records compiled by ProPublica.
The scale of the Concord Fund’s giving to RAGA can be seen in a review by the nonprofit Center for Media and Democracy (CMD): from 2014 into 2024, the Concord Fund has given the 527 organization more than $17.8 million, and it gave millions of dollars more to RAGA last year.
Other RAGA top donors since 2014 include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Koch Industries, Sheldon Adelson, Anadarko Petroleum, Reynolds American, Comcast, and oil and gas exploration company Noble Energy, its tax filings show.
Leo-tied nonprofits that make large donations to RAGA are also major spenders with Leo’s for-profit consulting firm CRC Advisors. Leo-tied groups the Concord Fund and The 85 Fund paid Leo’s public affairs firm $35 million last year, a review from the liberal group Accountable.US found. Adding in the Federalist Society, Leo-tied nonprofits have paid over $133 million to CRC Advisors since 2012, supporting a luxurious lifestyle for Leo.
Last year, RAGA raised more than $22 million and spent over $31 million as of Nov. 25, according to its IRS filings. RAGA’s outgoing chairman recently highlighted its work in “enormously successful legal challenges against the Biden-Harris Administration and holding companies accountable for illegal ESG policies.” In previous years, RAGA has been a major spender in races backing conservative candidates like those who would restrict access to reproductive health care.
RAGA had a public schism in the 2023-2024 election cycle, after its former executive director Bisbee donated $250 to the campaign of his friend Will Scharf, who mounted an unsuccessful primary challenge to incumbent Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey. Scharf’s camp trumpeted the donation, and Scharf reportedly received donations from Leo and his ally, billionaire hedge fund founder Paul Singer. The Concord Fund was by far the top donor to a super PAC that backed Scharf. The Missouri showdown illustrates how Republican hopefuls for office in recent years compete for Trump’s endorsement—and how increasing Trump’s control of RAGA could make candidates even more beholden to the MAGA agenda.
One other intra-GOP feud is still simmering, one that Trump’s allies are not likely to forget. Leo’s sometimes-consultant Jankowski was formerly the CEO of the super PAC Never Back Down that backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in his presidential bid last cycle. The Trump camp’s resentment toward DeSantis’ allies extends to former DeSantis strategist Jeff Roe: Trump reportedly warned GOP candidates against hiring Roe and his firm Axiom Strategies, and LaCivita slammed his GOP rival Roe publicly.
