A super PAC allied with Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., poured money into a group that has deployed inflammatory tactics designed to pit Muslim and Jewish voters against Kamala Harris.
The McConnell-aligned Senate Leadership Fund gave $1.5 million to the FC PAC, formerly known as the Future Coalition PAC, which has faced criticism for its wedge tactics this election cycle.
In ads targeted at Arab voters in Michigan, the PAC highlighted the Jewish faith of Harris’s husband Doug Emhoff, a move that observers decried as antisemitic.
A recent Snapchat ad from the FC PAC targeting ZIP codes with large Arab populations in Michigan stated that Harris would be “a real pro-Israel president, right when we need one.” It added that her husband Doug Emhoff would be “the first Jewish presidential spouse ever!”
Flush with money from the Senate Leadership Fund as well as a new $2 million cash infusion from a dark-money nonprofit reportedly funded by Elon Musk, Thursday’s campaign finance report shows the FC PAC is not slowing down ahead of the November 5 election.
Super-Sized Attacks
When supporters of George W. Bush wanted to spread scurrilous rumors about the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., during the 2000 presidential primary, they found a low-tech, low-cost way to target their audience while remaining anonymous: They put racist fliers on the windshields of cars outside a debate.
Accusations flew that Bush hatchet man Karl Rove was behind dirty tricks targeting McCain, but the campaign disavowed it. No organization’s name was attached, and no Federal Election Commission filings were linked to the actions.
Today, a raft of ugly campaign ads — some playing on stereotypes, some leveraging misdirection — come not from the shadows, but from FEC-registered groups with millions in their war chests. Thanks to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, the proliferation of anonymous donations, and online ad microtargeting, practitioners of the dark arts of politics can wield a bigger bankroll than ever before. Well-known political operatives staff the groups and carry out their strategies. And candidates like Donald Trump do little to wash their hands of the endeavor.
Anna Massoglia, the investigations manager for OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks election spending, said, “The scale, to some extent, is unprecedented.”
To an untrained observer, some of the ads, such as the Snapchat spot in Michigan, might appear as if they were coming from the Harris campaign itself.
But by targeting areas with large Arab populations, such as Dearborn, the goal is to depress turnout rather than rally support. It’s a cynical ploy that appears to presume that Snapchat users in those areas are disgusted by the Biden-Harris administration’s support for Israel, or that dubious tropes of Arab antisemitism hold true.
The tell is another ad run in Pennsylvania, which has a substantial Jewish population, stating “two-faced Kamala Harris is secretly campaigning for Palestine, and trying to get away with it.”
The FC PAC lists a longtime Pennsylvania Republican operative who did not respond to request for comment as its treasurer. The PAC is financially backed by a dark-money nonprofit that has reportedly received funding from Elon Musk, Building America’s Future.
Few other details about Musk’s role in the nonprofit group have trickled out. The FC PAC did not respond to a request for comment on whether Musk has been involved in directing its operations.
Trump in recent weeks has appeared at Building America’s Future events and is scheduled to do so again in Pennsylvania next week.
The FC PAC received a $3 million donation from Building America’s Future earlier this year that was supplemented with the additional $2 million on October 7, according to a Thursday campaign finance report. The Senate Leadership Fund’s contribution was on October 16, well after critics accused the FC PAC of running antisemitic ads.
In recent weeks, the PAC’s ads have taken aim at Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Elissa Slotkin in addition to Harris.
Neither the Trump campaign nor the Senate Leadership Fund responded to requests for comment.
The FC PAC was previously called the Future Coalition PAC until it filed paperwork with the FEC last week to change its name. That shift came after a longtime progressive nonprofit called the Future Coalition put out a statement blasting the group.
“We completely denounce the anti-Semitic and hateful advertisements by ‘Future Coalition PAC’ leveraging our name and brand for political actions that do not reflect our values or principles,” the original group said in a statement.
Hidden Funding
We are calling on our supporters, partners, and the general public to stay alert and critical of the origins of political messaging during this time of troubling efforts to spread misinformation and sow discord.
Remaining vigilant about political advertising is more challenging today than ever before. Back in 2000, when unidentified individuals targeted McCain, they kept their identities hidden — perhaps to avoid legal repercussions or to distance themselves from those tactics.
Currently, the FC PAC seems to comply with all FEC disclosure regulations. However, federal courts have significantly weakened campaign finance laws, rendering them nearly meaningless. Through landmark decisions in 2010, such as Citizens United and SpeechNow.org, the courts allowed for unlimited contributions from corporate or nonprofit donors to “independent” campaign groups.
Building America’s Future has been a major donor to the FC PAC, which has utilized these funds to launch a barrage of online ads on platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat, garnering hundreds of thousands of views.
Notably, Building America’s Future is not required to reveal its donors. Limited information on the nonprofit’s funding has only emerged through reporting in reputable sources like the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, suggesting contributions from figures like Musk.
Erin Chlopak, the senior director for campaign finance at the Campaign Legal Center, highlighted the trend of 501c4 nonprofits being used to obscure the sources of funding for PACs.
The FC PAC has indicated in campaign finance reports that its ads both support and oppose Harris. According to experts, there are no legal barriers to a group taking such actions.
Utilizing microtargeting techniques, FC PAC, Building America’s Future, and related groups have flooded social media with a myriad of ads. FEC disclosures indicate that these organizations share several campaign contractors.
Investigations have uncovered groups like “Progress 2028,” linked to Building America’s Future, which disseminate misleading information about Harris to sway moderate or conservative voters. These tactics aim to influence voters by highlighting exaggerated or outdated policy stances.
Furthermore, ad campaigns supported by Building America’s Future have targeted specific demographics with tailored messages, such as Black voters regarding the proposed ban on menthol cigarettes or young men interested in products like Zyn.
It is crucial to recognize the use of fictitious names and the deliberate polarization of different issues in these ad campaigns. By targeting specific voting blocs and presenting conflicting viewpoints, these groups seek to manipulate public opinion.
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