GOP Women’s Group Attacking Trump Funded Solely by Male Democratic Donor

Republican Women for Progress PAC active in New Jersey, Kentucky, and Michigan

A new Republican women’s group who is “fed up with Trump” and pouring cash into toss-up congressional districts is bankrolled solely by a male billionaire venture capitalist who is a major donor to Democratic campaigns and causes, Federal Election Commission filings show. Republican Women for Progress, a Washington, D.C.-based "grassroots" nonprofit, was founded by Jennifer Pierotti Lim and Meghan Milloy and is comprised of "right-leaning" women who are opposed to President Donald Trump. The group has garnered glowing national media profiles that include a ten-minute segment on CBS News and articles in publications such as Glamour, Slate, and others.

The group is so far active in competitive congressional districts in New Jersey, Kentucky, and Michigan. "We think the best thing that we can do for the party and for the country right now is to make sure there are good women—Democrat or Republican—that are elected to office and who can serve as a check on this administration and on the president," Milloy told the Detroit Metro Times. "[This effort] really was inspired by us talking to Republican women in these districts where they said there was just no way that they could vote for the Republican." The group established a political action committee, the Republican Women for Progress PAC, on Sept. 13 to support their work for the midterms and has since spent $231,000 on independent expenditures for voter recruitment and advertisement productions in the toss-up districts in three states.

The PAC disbursed $76,000 on ads and recruitment in support of Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey's 11th congressional district, $78,000 backing Amy McGrath in Kentucky's 6th congressional district, and $77,000 on Elissa Slotkin in Michigan's 8th congressional district. The PAC's October quarterly filing—the first from the group—also shows that the group of Republican women is bankrolled by just one donor: Reid Hoffman, a venture capitalist and co-founder of LinkedIn, who is a major donor to Democrats. Hoffman cut a $400,000 to the PAC on Sept. 27, its filings show. Hoffman has pushed millions into the coffers of Democratic committees and campaigns this cycle. Hoffman provided $3 million to the House Majority PAC, a PAC closely affiliated with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) that is focused on electing and keeping Democrats in the House of Representatives; $2 million to the Senate Majority PAC, a PAC dedicated to electing and preserving Democrats in the Senate; and $1 million to Forward Majority Action, a group launched by former Obama alumni.

Hoffman also sent a maxed contribution to the Democratic National Committee and pushed cash to the campaigns of Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Tim Kaine (Va.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Bob Casey (Pa.), Bob Menendez (N.J.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Phil Bredesen (Tenn.), and Tammy Baldwin (Wis.) among others. The venture capitalist additionally sent money to a number of Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives and the Massachusetts Republican Party. The co-founders of Republican Women for Progress previously led Republican Women for Hillary during the 2016 elections. That group was featured on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Yahoo News, Wall Street Journal, the Hill, U.S News and World Report, and the New York Times.

UPDATE 1:20 P.M.: Following publication, Jennifer Lim, co-founder of Republican Women for Progress, sent the following comment: "In terms of the Reid Hoffman donation, even a male tech billionaire and major Democratic donor recognizes the important role women should play in the Republican party. We are pleased to have the support of donors across the ideological spectrum to ensure the voice of republican women is heard across the country."

https://freebeacon.com/politics/gop-womens-group-attacking-trump-funded-solely-by-male-democratic-donor/

Steyer Commits Another $2 Million to Gillum Campaign in Fla.

Mail campaign will connect Gillum to impeachment efforts against Trump

Billionaire political activist Tom Steyer is committing another $2 million in funding to support the gubernatorial candidacy of Andrew Gillum, the Democratic mayor of Tallahassee who surprised the political establishment by winning the party's nomination in August. When added to Steyer's previous commitments of just over $5 million through his PAC, the latest contributions to Gillum likely make the candidate one of the largest single beneficiaries of Steyer's already massive efforts in the overall 2018 election. "If you were going to choose a single race that has the most national significance, it would be the governor's race in Florida," Steyer was quoted as saying by CNN, which first reported the new commitment.

The contributions will flow through Forward Florida, a PAC that can accept unlimited funds on behalf of any candidate so long as there is no coordination between the PAC and the candidate's campaign. Gillum faces former representative Ron DeSantis, who just finished one of his strongest fundraising weeks, hauling in $8.2 million. Steyer's NextGen America PAC has also focused on registering college-aged voters on the assumption that they'll likely be progressive voters. According to NextGen's stats, they report having knocked on over 89,000 "doors" and have netted a total of 50,000 new voter registrations in Florida, the highest number of new registrations his PAC has been able to achieve in any of the states in which it is active.

CNN also reports that the "Need to Impeach" campaign will be orchestrating a "massive direct mail pitch to 300,000 Florida voters" who have signed up to support impeachment efforts against President Trump. "The mail piece makes specific reference to Gillum's support of impeachment," CNN reports. A representative with Steyer's PAC, NextGen America, did not respond to a request for comment.

Steyer's support of Gillum via the Forward Florida committee came somewhat later in the election cycle, at least when compared to the original support from George Soros. At a time in May when Gillum was struggling in both the polls and with fundraising, Soros contributed another $250,000 to Forward Florida, raising his total support of Gillum to $450,000. A May report from the Tampa Bay Times noted that "Gillum's campaign continues to rely heavily on large donations to his PAC for fundraising." "No matter who's cutting the checks, Gillum may now have the cash to battle Democratic opponents Gwen Graham, Philip Levine and Chris King well into the summer," the report predicted, which ultimately turned out to be true.

Shortly after winning the party nomination, Gillum thanked both of the progressive billionaires. "I'll tell you, I'm obviously deeply appreciative of Mr. Soros, as well as Mr. Steyer, both men whom I've known for some time," he said on NBC's Meet the Press. Like Steyer, Soros also has a side effort in the state he's been committed to. In May, the Hungarian-born investor donated $450,000 to a PAC called United for Progress, which, according to disclosure documents, is intended "to build community-based political power and influence in the growing Puerto Rican and Latino constituencies in Florida."

https://freebeacon.com/politics/steyer-commits-another-two-million-to-gillum-campaign-in-fla/