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“Extreme MAGA Republicans have raised an unprecedented amount to defeat us. Will you rush $5 to help stop them?”
Emails and text messages like this are flooding inboxes and phones ahead of the midterms, using fear and emotional appeals to raise small-dollar donations. What they don’t say, though, is that a Democratic consulting firm is cashing in on the panic, pocketing millions while sending just a tiny fraction of the money to actual campaigns.
According to new research by Stanford political scientist Adam Bonica, a firm founded by top Democratic operatives has built a sprawling, multimillion-dollar business by sending out spammy, alarmist fundraising messages that promise to help elect Democrats, while delivering almost none of the money to candidates. The firm, Mothership Strategies, was launched by alumni of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and has become ubiquitous within the party ecosystem. Since 2018, PACs linked to Mothership have raised more than half a billion dollars. But of the $678 million raised, just $11 million (about 1.6 percent) has gone to Democratic campaigns or committees, Bonica found.
The rest has been paid to Mothership’s network, including massive consultant fees, salaries for its founders, and other costs related to raising money and keeping it circulating within a closed system. The PACs, with names like “Progressive Turnout Project” or “National Democratic Training Committee” present themselves as grassroots efforts to defend democracy and support progressives, but the vast majority of the money they raise goes ultimately to the consultants.
