The Civic Action Fund was a left-of-center voter mobilization group and a project of the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a left-of-center electoral advocacy nonprofit managed by the for-profit consulting firm Arabella Advisors. The Civic Action Fund operated in 12 separate battleground states with the stated goal of getting “low-propensity voters” to become “lifelong voters.”

Sixteen Thirty Fund registered Civic Action Fund as a trade name on February 26, 2019 in Washington, D.C that was set to expire in 2021. ¹

Numerous staff and advisors with the Civic Action Fund had associations to prominent Democratic politicians and liberal advocacy groups, including former Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), the David Brock-founded super PAC American Bridge, and President Barack Obama’s political campaigns.

As of December 2022, the Civic Action Fund has stated it has closed down their operations. On its website, a message reads, “With great pride in contributing to record voter turnout rates in the 2020 election, Civic Action Fund has wound down its operation and closed.” ²

Background

The Civic Action Fund was a project financially sponsored in the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based leftwing organization that began in 2018 promoting Democratic candidate across the country. ³ Civic Action Fund operated in a dozen politically contested states: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. ⁴

The organization worked with left-wing politicians and organizations at the local level for get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts. It focused on contacting, “low propensity voters” from left-of-center constituencies to turn them out into reliable voters for left-of-center candidates and ballot propositions.” ⁵

The group worked with similar organizations at the local level in order to increase focus on voter turnout among left-leaning groups historically unlikely to vote. It also provided year-around-funding to organizations at the local level for the purpose of keeping low-propensity voters involved in the process between elections. The only partnership it specifically listed on its website is with the Alliance for Youth Action, a left-of-center canvassing group. ⁶

As of December 2022, the Civic Action Fund has stated it has closed down their operations. On its website, a message reads, “With great pride in contributing to record voter turnout rates in the 2020 election, Civic Action Fund has wound down its operation and closed.” ⁷

People

Staff

The Civic Action Fund’s senior staff came from backgrounds in Democratic activism and left-wing politics.

Ashley Spillane was the executive director of the Civic Action Fund. Spillane is a social impact strategist who has worked with a number of Democratic-aligned voter turnout groups including Rock the Vote, the Atlas Project, and Democratic GAIN. ⁸

Rodell Mollineau, the communications director, had previous experience as a Democratic political consultant. From 2011-2014, Mollineau led the David Brock-founded political committee American Bridge 21^st Century; prior to joining Brock he worked as an aide to former Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack (D). ⁹

Matt Singer was the program director. Singer is the founder of National Voter Registration Day and was one of the earliest advocates of automatic voter registration. He is a left-wing activist and the former executive director of the Alliance for Youth Organizing (formerly known as Bus Federation Civic Fund). ¹⁰

Advisors

Jessica Byrd is the founder of Three Point Strategies, a consulting firm focusing on race issues. She worked on political campaigns in 43 states. She previously worked for Emily’s List, a pro-abortion candidate recruiting group and for the 2008 Presidential campaign of Barack Obama and the campaign’s successor group Organizing for Action. ¹¹

Rebecca Lambe is a Democratic political consultant who worked for former Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and numerous Democratic-aligned committees with ties to Reid. ¹²

Mike Podhorzer is the assistant to the president for strategic research at the AFL-CIO, the country’s largest federation of labor unions and a key part of the liberal movement infrastructure. He is also the chairman of Catalist and the Analyst Institute, both liberal groups. ¹³

Emmy Ruiz is a Democratic political operative. In 2016, she was Nevada and Colorado state director for Hillary Clinton’s Presidential campaign; she has also worked for the Democratic National Committee, U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), and the Texas state-level pro-abortion political committee Annie’s List. ¹⁴

Cristina Uribe has held management positions at liberal organizations including the National Education Association, EMILY’s List, and the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center. ¹⁵

Paul Dunn is a Democratic political consultant; during the 2018 elections, he worked for Senate Majority PAC, the Democratic-leadership aligned Super PAC supporting the election of Democratic candidates to the U.S. Senate. ¹⁶

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13. Our Team & Advisors. Accessed January 4, 2020. https://civicaction.fund/our-team/
14. Mccaskill, Nolan D. “Harris Hires Ex-Clinton Aide Ruiz and Several Other Women of Color.” POLITICO, February 20, 2019. https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/20/kamala-harris-2020-staff-1176679.
15. Our Team & Advisors. Accessed January 4, 2020. https://civicaction.fund/our-team/
16. Burns, Alexander. “To Take the Senate, Democratic Group Will Spend Big in Red States.” The New York Times. The New York Times, July 26, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/26/us/politics/democrats-senate-midterms.html.