A nonprofit aligned with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has pulled in hundreds of millions of dollars from secret donors in recent years as the New York lawmaker decried dark money in politics, tax forms show.
Majority Forward, an advocacy group that conceals its contributors and has links to the Senate Majority PAC, has seen its war chest exponentially expand by nine figures over the past three years compared to its first three years in operation.
Between July 2019 and late June 2022, Majority Forward received $271.6 million in anonymous donations, according to a Fox News Digital review of tax forms. The nonprofit, launched in 2015, saw only $69 million in donations from June 2015 to May 2018.
The $200 million boost over the past three years compared to its first three years came as Schumer and other Democrats ramped up their attacks against Republican dark money operations. The skyrocketing cash also exemplifies Democrats’ increased reliance upon a practice they consistently rail against.
According to Majority Forward’s most recent tax forms obtained by Fox News Digital, the group raked in $75.2 million between early July 2021 and late June 2022. During this time, it funneled $31.2 million in grants to eight left-wing organizations like Priorities USA, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Americans for Economic Growth, Save My Country Action Fund, Protect Your Vote Nevada, Swing Left and Emily’s List.
But its biggest recipient was the Senate Majority PAC, which is also aligned with Schumer and works to elect Democrats to Congress’s upper chamber. During the calendar year, the nonprofit doled out $23 million to the PAC, which has consistently received large sums from the group. This means that considerable amounts of secret money have been poured into elections to aid Democrats across the country.
JB Poersch, a long-time Schumer ally, is president of both Majority Forward and Senate Majority PAC. Both groups share office space and personnel, and Majority Forward has put hundreds of thousands toward the PAC for salaries, insurance and IT security, federal filings show.
Schumer, meanwhile, has publicly criticized dark money as Democrats have benefited from it. The Senate majority leader has advocated for legislation against the practice and urged right-leaning judicial groups to identify their backers.
As part of the push, Schumer has championed the For the People Act, which contains provisions to make political nonprofits disclose donors who give more than $10,000. The bill also calls for nonprofits to file disclosure reports to the Federal Election Commission when they drive more than $10,000 into election-related activities.
Schumer, dark money critic Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and other Democratic politicians also called on the Judicial Crisis Network, a right-leaning organization, to release a list of donors who provided the group with more than $10,000.
The senators criticized the group for concealing ‘the identity of its donors’ who ‘have contributed tens of millions of dollars used to fund political advertising campaigns in support of nominees like Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch.’
The lawmakers made the demand as they reaped the rewards from their own judicial dark money groups, including Demand Justice and the Alliance for Justice. Both groups have undertaken initiatives to influence President Joe Biden on judicial nominations, including with Supreme Court Justice Kentanji Brown Jackson.
Schumer has also regularly assailed dark money on his social media feeds.
‘The Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United paved the way for endless dark money in our elections,’ Schumer said last September. ‘The Senate is voting on the DISCLOSE Act because we must cure this cancer of dark money. Every Senator has a choice: Vote for transparency, or stand with the forces of dark money.’
Majority Forward did not respond to a request for comment.