Conservative Group Pulls In $24 Million for GOP Senate Battles

A super political action committee working to give the Republican Party the advantage in the Senate pulled in more than $24 million in the first three months of 2024.

On April 9, a spokesman for the Senate Leadership Fund confirmed with The Epoch Times that the super PAC raised $24.4 million between January and March of this year.

According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records, the first quarter amount would nearly match the about $37.1 million the super PAC collected in 2023.

The Senate Leadership Fund, according to its website, is an “independent Super PAC” with “one goal: to build a Republican Senate majority that will defend America from Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats’ destructive far-left agenda.”

The Fund is not officially associated with the Republican Party. However, it is a key opponent to Democratic Party candidates for the legislature’s upper chamber.

According to FEC records, the Fund spent about $290.9 million to oppose various Democrats in the midterm election cycles of 2021 and 2022. For example, the Fund spent about $47.5 million against Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and about $45.2 million attacking Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.).

The Fund’s April 9 announcement came about a week ahead of the FEC’s deadline for quarterly disclosures. On April 15, the fund, along with many other FEC-regulated committees reporting on a quarterly basis, will publish full financial disclosure documents.

When the Fund last issued a report on Jan. 31, it reflected its activity for the entire calendar year of 2023. The 2023 report said the Fund had about $35 million on hand.

The Fund is the conservative answer to the Democrat-aligned Senate Majority PAC (SMP). The SMP, as it is registered with the FEC, is a super PAC that is not officially affiliated with the Democratic Party but spends on attacking Republicans or boosting Democrat candidates for the Senate.

The SMP, by comparison, told the FEC it had about $61.6 million on hand at the end of 2023. It will report its first quarter figures on April 15, too.

Dark Money, Corporations, and Megadonors

According to the FEC, the Senate Leadership Fund’s biggest individual funder in 2023 was One Nation, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit. The group sent the Fund $5.18 million in December 2023.

501(c)(4) groups do not follow the same disclosure or donor rules as FEC-regulated committees. Because of this, they are often referred to as dark money organizations.

When One Nation last filed a tax return, it said it had $8.2 million in net assets at the end of 2022.

The Fund also collected numerous seven-figure checks from various corporations. Most of them were involved in the oil business.

According to the FEC, in 2023, the Fund received gifts of $2 million from Occidental Petroleum Corp., $1.5 million from Chevron Corp., $1 million from ConocoPhillips Co., $1 million from Devon Energy Corp., $1 million from Valero Energy Corp., and $1 million from the industry trade group The American Petroleum Institute.

The Fund also took in $500,000 from Koch Industries Inc. and The Anschutz Corp.

According to FEC records, major Republican Party donors Ken Griffin, Warren Stephens, and Paul Singer contributed to the fund in 2023.

Mr. Griffin, the founder and CEO of Citadel, gave $2.5 million. Both Mr. Stephens, the CEO of Stephens Inc., and Mr. Singer, the founder, president, co-CEO, and co-chief Investment Officer of Elliott Investment Management LLC, sent $2 million.

According to donor records maintained by watchdog organization OpenSecrets, all three are major Republican Party donors. All three previously backed former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley’s 2024 run for the GOP’s presidential nomination.

Another notable name gave more than $1 million: Rupert Murdoch.

Mr. Murdoch, the founder of News Corp., is not a major donor but is a towering figure in the world of media. News Corp. owns The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Newswires, The New York Post, and numerous other media properties around the world. Mr. Murdoch also founded Fox Corp., which owns Fox News, among other news and entertainment properties.

Mr. Murdoch, according to FEC records, gave the Senate Leadership Fund $2 million in 2023. According to OpenSecrets, Mr. Murdoch has given to the Senate Leadership Fund before.