Politico reported on Monday that the George Soros-funded Priorities USA Action and Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) Senate Majority PAC are the dark money behind the Alabama shell group that has spent more than $4.1 million to defeat conservative Republican Roy Moore in Tuesday’s Alabama U.S. Senate special election in which he faces liberal Democrat Doug Jones:
Highway 31, which has dropped more than $4.1 million in support of Jones and against Roy Moore ahead of Tuesday’s Senate special election, is a joint project of two of the largest national Democratic super PACs — Senate Majority PAC and Priorities USA Action — along with a group of Alabama Democrats, multiple senior officials familiar with the arrangement told POLITICO.
Highway 31 filed its statement of organization with the Federal Election Commission on November 6, and in its 36 days of existence has delivered almost all of its $4.1 million of political messaging on credit provided by its largest vendors, three secretive Washington D.C. based consulting firms founded and run by former Obama campaign staffers.
The firms are Waterfront Strategies, a wholly owned subsidiary of GMMB Consulting, founded and run by former Obama campaign staffer Jim Margolis; Bully Pulpit Interactive, founded and run by former Obama campaign staffer Andrew Bleeker; and Putnam Partners, founded and run by former Obama campaign staffer Mark Putnam.
Federal Election Commission records show that Priorities Action USA raised and spent $192 million in the 2016 election cycle. The vast majority of the funds raised–$130 million out of $192 million–was donated by 37 individuals, each of whom donated more than $500,000. Among the top donors were New York City financier James Simons, who donated $11 million; Fred Eyechaner of Chicago, Illinois, who donated $11 million; George Soros, who donated $9.5 million; his son Alex Soros, who donated $1 million; and Hollywood mavens Steven Spielberg and Jeff Katzenberg, who donated $1 million each.