The Club for Growth is a 501(c)(4) political organization active in the United States, with a fiscally conservative agenda focused on tax cuts and other economic policy issues.
The financing of electoral campaigns in the United States happens at the federal, state, and local levels by contributions from individuals, corporations, political action committees, and sometimes the government. Campaign spending has risen steadily at least since 1990. For example, a candidate who won an election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1990 spent on average $407,600, while the winner in 2022 spent on average $2.79 million; in the Senate, average spending for winning candidates went from $3.87 million to $26.53 million.
ActBlue is a nonprofit American fundraising platform and political action committee (PAC) founded in 2004. ActBlue builds technology and infrastructure to be used by Democratic campaigns and has been described as “the center of a transformation in how political campaigns work.” It is focused on mobilizing small-dollar donors and, as of June 2024, has raised $13.7 billion for left-leaning and Democratic candidates and causes since it was established. ActBlue is organized as a PAC, but it serves as a conduit for processing individual contributions made through the platform. Under federal law, these contributions are made by individuals and are not considered PAC donations.
Paul Elliott Singer is an American hedge fund manager, activist investor, and the founder, president, and co-CEO of Elliott Management. As of March 2024, Forbes estimated his net worth at US$6.1 billion. Fortune described Singer as one of the "smartest and toughest money managers" in the hedge fund industry. A number of sources have branded him a vulture capitalist, largely on account of his role at Elliott Management, which is a vulture fund. The Independent has described him as "a pioneer in the business of buying up sovereign bonds on the cheap, and then going after countries for unpaid debts".
Americans for Prosperity (AFP), founded in 2004, is a libertarian conservative political advocacy group in the United States affiliated with brothers Charles Koch and the late David Koch. As the Koch family's primary political advocacy group, it has been viewed as one of the most influential American conservative organizations.
Let Freedom Ring, Inc. is an American conservative advocacy organization. It is organized as a 501(c)(4) entity, and in 2014 created a super PAC. Let Freedom Ring has Colin Hanna as its president and has employed Timothy Goeglein as a consultant.
Daniel K. Proft is an American political commentator and activist. A member of the Republican Party, he is a talk radio host for Chicago radio station WIND and was a candidate for Governor of Illinois in 2010. He voices a political commentary, "Sixty Seconds of Sanity" on the Salem Radio Network. He is also the president of Local Government Information Systems, an entity controlling sites like Kendall County Times and Will County Gazette.
American Crossroads is a US Super PAC that raises funds from donors to advocate for certain candidates of the Republican Party. It has pioneered many of the new methods of fundraising opened up by the Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. FEC. Its president is Steven J. Law, a former United States Deputy Secretary of Labor for President George W. Bush and the Chairman of the Board of Directors is former Republican National Committee chairman Mike Duncan. Advisers to the group include Senior Advisor and former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour.
The 2012 United States Senate election in Ohio took place on November 6, 2012, concurrently with the 2012 U.S. presidential election as well as other elections to the United States Senate and House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown won re-election to a second term, defeating Republican Josh Mandel, the Ohio State Treasurer. Brown was unopposed in the Democratic primary while Mandel won the Republican primary with 63% of the vote.
Super PACs, officially known as "independent expenditure-only political action committees," are unlike traditional political action committees in that they may raise unlimited amounts from individuals, corporations, unions, and other groups to spend on, for example, ads overtly advocating for or against political candidates. However, they are not allowed to either coordinate with or contribute directly to candidate campaigns or political parties. Super PACs are subject to the same organizational, reporting, and public disclosure requirements of traditional PACs.
Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow was a United States political action committee (PAC) established by Stephen Colbert, who portrayed a character of the same name who was a mock-conservative political pundit on Comedy Central's satirical television series The Colbert Report. As a super PAC the organization could raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions and other groups, as well as wealthy individuals. Speaking in character, Colbert said the money would be raised not only for political ads, but also "normal administrative expenses, including but not limited to, luxury hotel stays, private jet travel, and PAC mementos from Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus."
In politics, particularly the politics of the United States, dark money refers to spending to influence elections, public policy, and political discourse, where the source of the money is not disclosed to the public.
Priorities USA Action is the largest Democratic Party super PAC. Founded in 2011, it supported Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign. It was the primary super PAC supporting Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign. In the 2020 presidential election, Priorities USA Action spent the third highest amount of all outside spending groups. It focuses mainly on high-dollar donors; former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is a major donor to the group.
Ronald M. Cameron is an American businessman, and the owner and chairman of Mountaire Farms.
Richard Ellis Uihlein and Elizabeth Uihlein are American billionaire businesspeople, founders of Uline and right-wing donors. Richard Uihlein is also an heir to the Schlitz brewing fortune.
The 2016 presidential campaign of Ted Cruz, the junior United States senator from Texas, was announced on March 23, 2015. He was a candidate for the Republican Party's 2016 presidential nomination and won the second-most state contests and delegates. Cruz themed his campaign around being an outsider and a strict conservative. In the crowded early field, he chose not to directly confront the leading candidate, Donald Trump, who was also viewed as an outsider candidate. His cordial and sympathetic tone towards Trump contrasted with the more critical approach of rivals such as Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, and Rand Paul.
Marco Rubio, then the junior United States senator from Florida, formally announced his 2016 presidential campaign on April 13, 2015, at the Freedom Tower in Downtown Miami. Early polling showed Rubio, who was considered a potential candidate for vice president by Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in 2012, as a frontrunner candidate for the Republican nomination for president of the United States in 2016 since at least the end of the 2012 election. Rubio was the second Cuban American to run for president, with Republican Ted Cruz announcing his campaign three weeks earlier. He suspended his campaign on March 15, 2016, after finishing second in Florida's primary.
Fundraising plays a central role in many presidential campaigns, and is a key factor in determining the viability of candidates. Money raised is applied for the salaries of non-volunteers in the campaign, transportation, campaign materials, media advertisements and other contingencies. Under United States law, officially declared candidates are required to file campaign finance details with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) at the end of every calendar month or quarter. Summaries of these reports are made available to the public shortly thereafter, revealing the relative financial situations of all the campaigns.
Right to Rise is a political action committee (PAC) created to support Jeb Bush in the 2016 presidential election. A Super PAC, Right to Rise is permitted to raise and spend unlimited amounts of corporate, union, and individual campaign contributions under the terms of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision.
Jeanette Christina Dousdebes Rubio is an American former pro cheerleader, who is married to United States Senator Marco Rubio of Florida.
