American Bridge 21st Century
SOURCE: Wikipedia, captured 2020-07-16
American Bridge 21st Century or AB PAC is a liberal American Super PAC that supports Democratic candidates and opposes Republican candidates.
American Bridge 21st Century was founded by David Brock in 2010 and is associated with Media Matters for America. It is an opposition research hub for the Democratic Party. The group physically tracks and monitors Republican candidates and officials and uses social media to deploy its findings.
Methods
American Bridge PAC employs over 50 "trackers" to follow and record Republican candidates across the country. These trackers are equipped with high-tech recording gear and are assigned Republican targets to follow and record. According to the New York Times, the organization "aims to record every handshake, every utterance by Republican candidates...looking for gotcha moments that could derail political ambitions or provide fodder for television advertisements by liberal groups." USA Today described the group's goal as "uncovering an unguarded moment, a controversial position, a gaffe or flip-flop, anything that can be used to torpedo a political foe's campaign." The organization compiles opposition research dossiers on the Republican candidates they are targeting. The group's opposition dossier on Mitt Romney was 2,500 pages long. American Bridge PAC attempts to tie Republican candidates to the Koch brothers.
In 2018, American Bridge spent $20.9 million, mostly on employee salaries including the opposition researchers.
The PAC discovered that the Trump Institute's book was plagiarized, with at least 20 pages coming from a 1995 Success Magazine article.
Donors
American Bridge PAC is largely funded by Democratic donors and labor unions. Billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros was the group's largest donor for the 2012 and 2014 cycles, contributing $1 million in 2012 and over $1 million in 2014. In 2012, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees donated $575,000. American Bridge was one of several progressive political groups to coordinate fundraising efforts for the 2012 elections.
Additional Reading
Media Matters for America [MMfA]:
[MMfA co-Founder] David Brock established American Bridge 21st Century as a super PAC associated with Media Matters for America. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, and a former lieutenant governor of Maryland, chairs the Board of Directors of American Bridge. American Bridge is focused on opposition research.
[2020-09-22] Top presidential super PACs boosted by "dark money" donations
Priorities Action USA: $72,718,932
Preserve America PAC: $51,753,665
America First Action: $50,730,744
American Bridge 21st Century: $34,169,254
Unite the Country: $25,891,207
[2020-08-12] Pro-Trump "news" site is run by Trump's super PAC -- and that raises legal questions. The American Herald looks like a conservative news site, but it's run by pro-Trump super PAC America First Action.
[2020-07-16]: Sixteen Thirty Fund: Influential 'dark money' network steers millions to pro-Biden super PACs
The Sixteen Thirty Fund, an expansive liberal "dark money" network that emerged as a key player in the 2018 midterms, is injecting millions of untraceable dollars into super PACs backing presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
The influential nonprofit donated a total of $5.7 million to two pro-Joe Biden groups, Unite the Country and American Bridge 21st Century, on June 30 2020, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Together those super PACs have spent $35 million backing Joe Biden and attacking President Donald Trump on the airwaves. American Bridge recently launched a $25 million ad campaign in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania -- the key states to Trump's 2016 upset -- bashing Trump over his response to the devastating coronavirus pandemic.
Sixteen Thirty Fund made the donation through a recently formed joint fundraising committee called Victory 2020. These committees typically distribute large donations from wealthy individual donors to a number of campaigns and party committees. It's rare to see a joint fundraising committee raise cash for super PACs -- and fund them with dark money. ...
... Sixteen Thirty Fund isn't the only dark money group boosting American Bridge, which raised $18 million from April through June 2020. The super PAC brought in $6.8 million worth of in-kind donations from its own 501(c)(4) arm that doesn't disclose its donors.
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