Though Democrats have railed against dark money in politics, they actually upstaged Republicans with such funds in the 2020 election, according to a New York Times analysis.
According to tax filings and other data reviewed by The Times, Democrats matched and surpassed Republicans in raising and spending dark money.
It is difficult to trace dark money. It comes from nonprofits that don't have to reveal their donors.
President Joe Biden and other Democrats have called for changes to campaign finance laws to take away secret donations from politics. In 2020, Democrats embraced the practice, with pro-Biden super PACs accumulating eight times the amount of dark money that super PACs for Hillary Clinton raised in 2016, an analysis by Insider found.
A sample of 15 major nonprofits linked to Democrats spent over a billion dollars in 2020. A sample of 15 GOP-linked nonprofits spent about $900 million.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund received donations of undisclosed origin as large as $50 million, according to The Times. The group spent more money than the Democrats at the convention.
Dark money is hard to track, so the analysis is likely not complete. Democratic and GOP strategists told the outlet that the analysis lined up with their knowledge of dark money on the left and right in 2020.
In 2020, some prominent Biden backers told Insider they were willing to use whatever means necessary to defeat Trump.
The democracy is sacred and too amazing to sacrifice, according to a former senior adviser to Biden.
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