SOURCE:  FactCheck.org, captured 2020-09-22
This page last modified: 2020-09-22 13:16:48 -0700 (PST)

Unite the Country is a new, single-candidate super PAC that supports former Vice President Joe Biden. Unite the Country was started by former Biden aides to help promote his 2020 presidential candidacy.

Although the super PAC was established on April 10, 2019, it did not become active until six months later. During this time period, the inactive group existed under the name For The People.

A video on the super PAC's website features Biden speaking about the need to "restore our backbone."

"We can unite this country," Biden says, echoing the group's title. "Folks this is the United States of America. Stand up. Take it back. We can, in fact, do anything we set our mind to. This is the United States of America."

Unite the Country is run by top Democratic strategists as well as those who had worked on Biden's unsuccessful past presidential campaigns and his successful campaigns as Barack Obama's vice presidential candidate.

Unite the Country's board will be chaired by Mark Doyle, a nonprofit CEO who worked on Biden's failed 2008 presidential campaign, and fellow Biden alumnus John MacNeil will serve as secretary, according to CNN. Larry Rasky, who is listed as the PAC's treasurer, previously worked on Biden's 1988 and 2008 presidential bids.

Steve Schale, a Unite the Country strategist, was a top campaign official in Florida for the Obama-Biden ticket in 2008 and 2012. He "played a role with an organization that sought to draft Biden into the 2016 race," according to NBC News. But Biden declined to run at that time.

Biden, who once opposed support from single-candidate PACs, reversed his position on outside money last October, quickly leading to the formation of Unite the Country. This came just "weeks after Biden reported having $8.98 million on hand -- a figure far outmatched by rivals like South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren," according to CNN.

As of April 17 2020, the group had spent nearly $13.5 million on independent expenditures, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, which based its analysis on Federal Election Commission data. FEC defines independent expenditures as advertising that "expressly advocates" for the election or defeat of a specific candidate.

So far, Reid Hoffman, a venture capitalist [co-founder and executive chairman of LinkedIn], has donated $1.5 million to the group, making him its largest donor, FEC records show. Other top donors include George M. Marcus, a San Francisco real estate mogul, Yaron Minsky, head of the tech group Jane Street [<< ?], and Richard C. Blum, an investment banker and husband to Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Marcus, Minsky and Blum each contributed $1 million.

Unite the Country

SOURCE:  Ballotpedia.org, captured 2020-09-22
This page last modified: 2020-09-22 13:16:48 -0700 (PST)

Mission

"Unite the Country was formed to push back against the lies and disinformation being spread about former Vice President Joseph Biden by President Donald Trump and his allies. Our goal is to communicate to voters why Joe Biden is not only the best choice to defeat Trump in 2020, but is also the best candidate to restore honor and integrity to the White House and our nation.

"Joe Biden can unite the country after years of Donald Trump’s spiteful and divisive rhetoric. He understands the struggles of middle America and can rebuild the middle class. He can restore dignity and stability to the Oval Office. He can rebuild our relationships with our allies around the world and take on the role of commander-in-chief from Day 1."

Leadership

Board

• Mark Doyle, former aide to Biden and founder of Rags of Honor
• John MacNeil, former president of Moody Street Pictures
• Larry Rasky, political strategist
• Mark Riddle, executive director of Future Majority
• Michèle Taylor, former vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee

Professional team

• Amanda Loveday, former executive director of the South Carolina Democratic Party
• Steve Schale, Florida state director for the 2008 Obama presidential campaign
• Julianna Smoot, deputy campaign manager for the 2012 Obama presidential campaign

Additional Reading

[2020-09-22]  Top presidential super PACs boosted by "dark money" donations

[Image source. Click image to open in new window.]

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

[2020-07-16]  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-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 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.

[2020-05-27]:  Outside groups help Biden close the digital ad gap with Trump on Facebook

Priorities USA  [Priorities USA Action], the leading Democratic outside group, spent about $5 million on Facebook ads between several different pages. "Cost of Chaos" and "Facts First" hammer Trump over his administration's response to the deadly coronavirus pandemic. Another of its pages, "Hablemos Claro USA," attempts mostly to reach Latinos in Florida, attacking Trump over his administration's proposed Medicare spending cuts.

PACRONYM, the super PAC arm of a Democratic "dark money" group, spent $1.9 million on Facebook ads through its page "Four is Enough." The group's attacks are mostly focused around COVID-19 testing shortages and the Trump administration's support for a lawsuit to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. It's also running Instagram ads attacking the bipartisan expanded small business loan program for giving loans to large companies.

Pro-Biden super PAC Unite the Country shelled out over $878,000 on Facebook through mid-March 2020 but slowed its spending after Biden effectively clinched the Democratic primary. Biden recently signaled to donors that Priorities USA is his campaign's preferred outside group, leading to a massive drop-off in donations to Unite the Country. Another pro-Biden super PAC, American Bridge 21st Century, spent nearly $700,000 on Facebook ads.

Return to Persagen.com