A new report from the Brennan Center for Justice reveals record-breaking sums of dark money spent during the 2024 election cycle—and shows that Democrats spent even more secret cash in their attempt to elect Kamala Harris than was previously known.
According to the report, which includes both FEC-reported expenditures and unreported ad spending, the pro-Harris dark money nonprofit Future Forward USA Action poured $304 million into the election. As Sludge reported last November, the more than $260 million that Future Forward USA Action passed along to its super PAC affiliate, FF PAC, made it the first time that a dark money group was a presidential candidate’s largest funder. The additional spending identified by the Brennan Center only adds to that discouraging fact.
In total, Future Forward raised more than $950 million during the 2024 cycle, the New York Times reported. Beyond the money it received from its own dark money affiliate, FF PAC received significant support from other non-disclosing groups or pass-throughs, such as LCV Victory Fund, Climate Power Action, and Sixteen Thirty Fund.
This heavy reliance on secretive funding sources stands in stark contrast to years of Democratic messaging. Prominent figures like Harris and Joe Biden have forcefully argued that dark money was a scourge on American politics and was eroding public trust. Yet, cycle after cycle since 2018, the data shows that the Democrats make far greater use of dark money in elections than the Republicans. Future Forward USA Action alone spent more than twice as much as the top-spending GOP-aligned group. The Brennan Center also found that six of the ten highest-spending dark money groups last cycle were aligned with Democrats.
