America PAC

Last updated
America PAC
FoundedJuly 2024;4 months ago (2024-07)
Founder Elon Musk
Legal status Super PAC
Website theamericapac.org

The America PAC is a super PAC (political action committee) created by Elon Musk with the backing of a number of prominent tech businessmen to support Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign. The group's primary purpose is to finance canvassing operations. During its first three months through September 2024, Musk was the PAC's sole donor, totaling about $75 million, increasing to more than $118 million in October 2024.

Contents

History

America PAC was founded to support the Donald Trump campaign during the 2024 United States presidential election. Backers include Elon Musk, Douglas Leone, Palantir Technologies co-founder Joe Lonsdale, Tyler Winklevoss, Cameron Winklevoss, [1] Ken Howery, Shaun Maguire of Sequoia Capital, and SpaceX board member Antonio Gracias. [2] Musk told friends earlier in 2024 that he sought secrecy about his support for Trump; some of his backers initially "anchored" the PAC so that Musk's investment would be made after July 1 and thus would not be publicly disclosed until shortly before the election. [3]

Musk said in an interview with Jordan Peterson that he has "created a PAC or Super PAC or whatever you want to call it" called "America PAC". [4] Musk was reported to have pledged to contribute $45 million a month to the PAC. [5] [6] [1] [7] However, Musk has subsequently stated that the $45 million per month commitment never took place, and that the press has misreported his intentions. He further clarified that he will be donating to America PAC, but in a much lower albeit unspecified amount. [8] From its inception through September 2024, Musk was the sole donor to the PAC, totaling about $75 million, increasing to more than $118 million in October 2024. [9] [10]

In the end stages of the 2024 season the Trump campaign outsourced much of the on the ground campaigning in swing states to America PAC. [11] In October, Musk seized the X handle @America to promote the group. [12] [13]

Leadership

Following a series of transitions in July 2024 veteran political strategists Phil Cox, Generra Peck, and Dave Rexrode took guiding positions in the organization. [14]

Efforts

The group has been engaged in voter information gathering efforts. [15] These efforts have faced scrutiny from regulators and other groups in those states. [16] The group has set a goal of registering 800,000 new voters in swing states for the 2024 election. [17] [18]

The PAC provided funding to Republican candidates in key house races including Mike Lawler, Ken Calvert, Michelle Steel, Ken Coughlin, Marc Molinaro, Tom Kean Jr., Derrick Merrin, David Valadao, Austin Theriault, and Joe Kent. [19] [20]

Social media activities

America PAC has paid for ads on social media platforms including Facebook, YouTube and X, the latter of which received less investment than the other two. From July to October 2024, the company invested $3 million on Facebook and Instagram advertisements, with $1.5 million being spent on Google and $201,000 on X. [21]

The efforts are targeted at voters in swing states and have included provocative internet ads featuring the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. [14] [22] Ads have been targeted at voters in Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. [14] [23] [24] [25] According to Wired, as of October 2024, the ads had amassed 32 million impressions. [21]

Social media content shared by America PAC have included a video, created by a social media user who has shared content associated with Nazism, which depicts a fighter with Kamala Harris' face being physically attacked by a sword-wielding Trump. Another post shared by the organization stated that "Harris is a 'C-word'"—an allusion to the word "cunt", a vulgar word used against women—before calling her a "communist". [26] [27]

America PAC administers an “Election Integrity Community” on Twitter/X, in October 2024 Musk tweeted that his followers should report issues with the 2024 Election there. [28]

Canvassing

The PAC has employed canvassing vendors in battleground states. Blitz Canvassing LLC is contracted to work in Arizona, North Carolina, Michigan, and Nevada. [11] It had previously contracted with the September Group in Arizona and Nevada but cancelled those contracts in September 2024. [29] Blitz Canvassing LLC is a subsidiary of GP3 which is owned by the same political strategists who run America PAC, this has led to criticism from some within the Trump campaign. Patriot Grassroots LLC has been hired to do work in Georgia and Pennsylvania. The Synapse Group has been retained to work in Wisconsin. America PAC is the only Trump campaign affiliated group to hire canvassers in all seven battleground states. [11] In Wisconsin America PAC has also collaborated with Turning Point Action, combining their canvassing efforts. [30] Despite these contracted and combined efforts America PAC struggled to meet their canvassing targets. [31]

In Michigan, canvassers contracted by America PAC were subjected to poor working conditions: they were transported in a U-Haul van with no rear seating or seatbelts, and threatened to meet unrealistic quotas under threat of being forced to pay for their hotel rooms and transportation home. [32] After these poor working conditions were reported, the canvassers were fired for speaking to the press. [33] On October 30, a class action lawsuit regarding California labor law violations was filed against multiple entities including America PAC. [34]

According to The Guardian, America PAC's internal data classified 20 to 25% of door-knocks in the states of Arizona and Nevada as being potentially fraudulent. [35] Accusations of fraud against the PAC's canvassers have been further backed by nine Republican workers connected to the organization. According to NBC News, a video tutorial of how to spoof door-knocks and send the fake data to America PAC was leaked to the public. Other cases of potential fraud included canvassers submitting data from locations far away from the homes they were expected to have visited. [36]

Petition and giveaways

Avatar of Elon Musk Elon Musk Royal Society (cropped).jpg
Avatar of Elon Musk
Elon Musk
@elonmusk
 X logo 2023.svg

For every person you refer who is a swing state voter, you get $47! Easy money.

October 6, 2024 [37]

In October 2024 the PAC launched a petition effort focused on the First and Second Amendments. They offered $47 per referral of swing state voter. Musk tweeted “For every person you refer who is a swing state voter, you get $47! Easy money." [38] He later increased the referral amount to $100, also stating that he'd give away $1 million to a swing state petition signer each day until election day. [39] Petition signers must be registered voters and provide contact information, making it "a data mining tool" for the PAC to contact voters. [40]

Law professor Rick Hasen said that a $1 million giveaway limited to registered voters is a "clearly illegal" violation of section 52 of the United States Code, which concerns voting regulations. [40] The Department of Justice subsequently warned the PAC that it might be breaking the law. [41] On the same day that the warning was issued, the PAC did not announce any winner of the giveaway, with Musk offering no explanation as to why. On the day after, the organization resumed its activities and announced two more winners. [42] [43]

On October 28, Larry Krasner, the district attorney for Philadelphia, filed suit against Musk and the PAC, alleging that it is an "illegal lottery scheme" and violated state law. [44] Krasner further stated that the civil lawsuit does not preclude any potential criminal prosecution. [45] [46] Musk attempted to have the case moved to federal court, but a federal judge ruled against him, and returned the case to state court. [47] At a court hearing, Musks's lawyers stated that although Musk had said that the money would be awarded "randomly" and by "chance", the winners weren't chosen at random but instead were evaluated to “feel out their personality, (and) make sure they were someone whose values aligned” with the PAC and were being paid to serve as spokespersons. [48] The winners also had to sign nondisclosure agreements. A judge dismissed Krasner's suit on November 4. [49]

After Musk's lawyers stated that the awards were not random, two giveaway participants, one from Texas and another from Michigan, filed lawsuits against Musk and America PAC in federal courts alleging that they had been misled by the defendants. The plaintiff in the Texas case stated that she would never have signed the petition had she known that the giveaways were not random. The Michigan plaintiff, who supported Kamala Harris for president, said that "the selection not only is not random, but is a targeted process that eliminates anyone who is not a Republican or vocal supporter of Donald Trump". [50] [51] [52] [53]

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References

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  32. ↑ Lahut, Jake. "Workers Say They Were Tricked and Threatened as Part of Elon Musk's Get-Out-the-Vote Effort". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved 2024-10-30.
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  40. 1 2 Tomazin, Farrah (2024-10-20). "Musk accused of illegally paying for votes with $US1 million election giveaway". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2024-10-20.
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