Protect Our Future(POF) is a Democratic political action committee (PAC) started in 2022. It is funded primarily by Sam Bankman-Fried.
In 2022 Bankman-Fried provided initial financial support for Protect Our Future PAC. Protect Our Future was launched as a Democratic political action committee with $10 million in initial funding aiming to support "lawmakers who play the long game on policymaking in areas like pandemic preparedness and planning", according to Politico. [1] Bankman-Fried had provided the majority of the $14 million raised by May 2022 for the PAC. [2] A spokesperson for the PAC said Bankman-Fried had donated $13 million, while Nishad Singh had donated $1 million. [3]
As of June 2022, Bankman-Fried contributed over $23 million to the PAC. [4]
POF spent funds in several 2022 Democratic primaries. In the 2022 Democratic primary between Shontel Brown and Nina Turner, POF spent at least $1 million in support of Brown, [5] largely on radio, TV, and digital ads. [2] This amount was significant, given that the Brown campaign itself raised $4 million. [2] POF spent at least $2 million for Georgia Representative Lucy McBath. [5]
POF spent at least $7 million in the 2022 Carrick Flynn campaign for Oregon district 6 Representative. [2] An opposing candidate alleged that POF coordinated with a Flynn campaign, an action illegal under federal law. POF denied this allegation. [6] The Flynn campaign may have coordinated with POF through a strategy called red-boxing, whereby the campaign highlights particular language on its website in a red box that POF replicated in its advertising. [7]
In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The legal term PAC was created in pursuit of campaign finance reform in the United States. Democracies of other countries use different terms for the units of campaign spending or spending on political competition. At the U.S. federal level, an organization becomes a PAC when it receives or spends more than $1,000 for the purpose of influencing a federal election, and registers with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), according to the Federal Election Campaign Act as amended by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. At the state level, an organization becomes a PAC according to the state's election laws.
Nina Hudson Turner is an American politician and television personality. A member of the Democratic Party, she was a Cleveland City Council member from 2006 to 2008 and a member of the Ohio Senate from 2008 until 2014. Turner was the Democratic nominee for Ohio Secretary of State in 2014, but lost in the general election against incumbent Jon Husted, receiving 35.5 percent of the vote. A self-described democratic socialist, her politics have been variously described as progressive, left-wing, or far-left.
Rebecca A. Balint is an American politician who is a member of the United States House of Representatives from Vermont's at-large congressional district as a member of the Democratic Party. She served as a member of the Vermont Senate from Windham County from 2015 to 2023, as majority leader from 2017 to 2021, and as president pro tempore from 2021 to 2023.
Barbara Helen Fried is an American lawyer and professor emeritus at Stanford Law School.
Alan Joseph Bankman is an American lawyer, Ralph M. Parsons Professor of Law and Business at Stanford Law School, and a licensed psychologist.
Joshua Lafazan is an American politician and a member of the Nassau County Legislature from the 18th district. When elected to the Syosset School Board in 2012, he was the youngest elected official in New York State. He was a candidate to become the Democratic nominee for New York's 3rd congressional district in the 2022 United States House of Representatives election.
Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) is an American advocacy group that supports pro-Israel policies within the United States Democratic Party.
Sean McElwee is an American policy advisor, data scientist, and activist. McElwee was the founding executive director of Data for Progress, a progressive think tank and polling firm he co-founded in 2018. In December 2022, McElwee announced he would resign from the firm amidst allegations of artificially manipulating the results of polls and his close ties to accused fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.
The 2022 United States House of Representatives elections in Ohio were held on November 8, 2022, to elect the 15 U.S. representatives from Ohio, one from each of the state's 15 congressional districts. The elections coincided with other elections to the House of Representatives, other elections to the United States Senate, and various state and local elections. Primary elections took place on May 3.
Jasmine Felicia Crockett is an American lawyer and politician who is the U.S. representative from Texas's 30th congressional district since 2023. Her district covers most of South Dallas County and parts of Tarrant County, including Dallas Love Field Airport. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously represented the 100th district in the Texas House of Representatives.
On March 10, 2021, Marcia Fudge resigned her seat in the United States House of Representatives after being confirmed by the United States Senate to serve as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Biden administration. Governor Mike DeWine set the primary date for August 3, concurrent with the special election in Ohio's 15th congressional district. The general election was on November 2. Shontel Brown won both the competitive Democratic primary and the general election, and was sworn in on November 4.
Shontel Monique Brown is an American politician who has served as the U.S. representative for Ohio's 11th congressional district since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Brown previously served as a member of the Cuyahoga County Council, representing the 9th district. She won her congressional seat in a special election on November 2, 2021, after Marcia Fudge resigned to become Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
Samuel Benjamin Bankman-Fried, or SBF, is an American former cryptocurrency entrepreneur convicted of fraud in 2023. He founded the cryptocurrency exchange FTX which grew into one of the largest exchanges of its type in the world, with billions in assets. Bankman-Fried was ranked the 41st-richest American in the Forbes 400 and the 60th-richest person in world by The World's Billionaires. His net worth peaked in November 2022 at $26 billion. Bankman-Fried was celebrated as "a kind of poster boy for crypto."
FTX Trading Ltd., commonly known as FTX, is a bankrupt company that formerly operated a fraud-ridden cryptocurrency exchange and crypto hedge fund. The exchange was founded in 2019 by Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang and, at its peak in July 2021, had over one million users and was the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume. FTX is incorporated in Antigua and Barbuda and headquartered in the Bahamas. FTX is closely associated with FTX.US, a separate exchange available to US residents.
Red-boxing is a tactic used by American political candidates to coordinate with their political action committees (PACs) in a way that circumvents campaign finance laws. Political campaigns place statements or requests on public campaign websites which are then used by PACs to support the candidate. The name for the practice comes from the red-colored box that often surrounds the instructions for PACs on campaign websites. It is used by both major American parties, but was noted for its use by Democratic candidates in primary elections in 2022.
Alameda Research was a cryptocurrency trading firm, co-founded in September 2017 by Sam Bankman-Fried and Tara Mac Aulay.
Maxwell Alejandro Frost is an American politician and activist serving as the U.S. representative for Florida's 10th congressional district since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, he was previously the national organizing director for March for Our Lives. Elected at age 25, Frost is the first member of Generation Z to serve in the United States Congress.
Caroline Ellison is an American former business executive and quantitative trader who pleaded guilty to fraud, money laundering and conspiracy charges in 2022. She is the former CEO of Alameda Research, the trading firm affiliated with the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and founded by FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
The bankruptcy of FTX, a Bahamas-based cryptocurrency exchange, began in November 2022. The collapse of FTX, caused by a liquidity crisis that exposed an $8 billion hole in FTX’s accounts, served as the impetus for its bankruptcy. Prior to its collapse, FTX was the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume and had over one million users.
The 2022 Illinois's 1st congressional district election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the United States Representative for Illinois's 1st congressional district, concurrently with elections for the other U.S. House districts in Illinois and the rest of the country, as well as the 2022 U.S. Senate race in Illinois, other elections to the United States Senate, and various state and local elections. Primary elections were held on June 28. Before the 2020 redistricting cycle, the 1st district was primarily based in the South Side of Chicago. Under the new congressional map, although the 1st district is still based in Chicago, including portions of Bronzeville, Hyde Park, Grand Crossing, Morgan Park, and Roseland, it now reaches down to the southwest and takes in a collection of exurban and rural areas in Cook County, Will County, and Kankakee County. The former section is heavily black and the latter is heavily white; as a result, the district as a whole is slightly over 50% black.