The nonprofit that helped get Cornel West on presidential ballots in 2024 received all of its funding that year through a conservative political network that has been bankrolled by Elon Musk, tax records reviewed by Sludge show.
People Over Party helped pay for petition drives to get the left-wing West onto state ballots in 2024 as Democrats warned he could play spoiler by drawing votes from Kamala Harris and helping Trump. A nonprofit called Interstate Priorities disclosed a $7.7 million grant to the group on its 2024 tax return, accounting for all of the revenue that People Over Party reported raising that year.
Building America’s Future, a dark money group that has received millions from Musk, disclosed on its 2024 tax return giving Interstate $10.1 million, exactly matching Interstate Priorities’ entire reported annual revenue that year.
The Wall Street Journal reported that tens of millions of dollars that moved through Building America’s Future in 2022 came from Musk. In 2024, the group took in $74.5 million from a single anonymous donor, as Sludge previously reported. There is no direct evidence Musk made that donation, but it came the same year Musk spent about $290 million to elect Trump and Republicans while working with consultants tied to Building America’s Future. This cycle, Musk has spent nearly $450 million to help Republicans keep control of Congress.
Interstate Priorities, Building America’s Future, and People Over Party did not respond to requests for comment.
The groups that financed People Over Party also employed consultants and directors with ties to Musk’s political operation.
Interstate director Ray Zaborney also serves as treasurer of Future Coalition PAC, a super PAC funded largely by contributions from Building America’s Future. In 2024, the super PAC targeted voters with contrasting messages about Harris’s position on Israel, emphasizing her support for Israel to Muslim voters and questioning her support for Israel to Jewish voters. Zaborney’s consulting firm, Red Maverick Media, has also been paid about $1.7 million by Musk’s America PAC, primarily for political mailers, according to FEC records.
