UltraViolet Action

Background

UltraViolet, UltraViolet Action’s parent organization, was founded in February 2012 with funding from the Citizen Engagement Lab, a left-progressive 501(c)(4) social welfare and political consulting group that organizes and funds left-of-center organizations that advocate for a wide range of liberal policies. ² UltraViolet’s cofounders were Shaunna Thomas, formerly the executive director of the P Street Project, an organization which works to elect progressive candidates to state and federal office, and Nita Chaudhary, formerly the national campaigns and organizing director at MoveOn.org Political Action, a liberal political action committee (PAC). ³

In August 2015, UltraViolet, under the name “UltraViolet Education Fund,” was registered as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit. ⁴ Roughly a year later, in September 2016, UltraViolet Action was registered as the group’s 501(c)(4) lobbying arm. ⁵

UltraViolet has previously lead campaigns against specific individuals, often calling for their dismissal or resignation. Notable figures against whom UltraViolet has led campaigns include right-of-center political commentator Bill O’Reilly, entertainment journalist Billy Bush, recording artist Celo Green, Rick Ross, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and President Donald Trump. ⁶

Policy Activities

Abortion and Contraceptives

In July 2014, UltraViolet advocated for the “Not My Boss’s Business Act,” formally known as “The Protect Women’s Health from Corporate Interference Act.” The bill, introduced by U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and then-U.S. Senator Mark Udall (D-CO), would have mandated that employers not be allowed to disrupt employee coverage for contraception guaranteed under Obamacare. It did not pass. ^{7 8 9}

In May 2021, UltraViolet Action applauded then-President Joe Biden’s budget which called for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment, which banned taxpayer funding of abortions through Medicaid. But the group called on the U.S. Congress to go further and eliminate all restrictions against the taxpayer funding of abortions. ¹⁰

In March 2023, UltraViolet Action claimed tens of thousands signed a petition in support of California’s decision to cut ties with pharmacies that stopped distributing the abortion pill mifepristone. ¹¹ The group also supported the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s approval of the over-the-counter birth control pill and demanded all pharmacies carry it. ¹²

In August 2023, UltraViolet called on the Biden Administration to ignore any potential U.S. Supreme Court ruling that would ban the abortion pill mifepristone and urged all health insurance providers to cover abortion and oppose a potential ban. ¹³

As of May 2025, UltraViolet Action has an ongoing petition drive supporting a federal ban on pro-life crisis pregnancy centers, which it accuses of providing “misinformation” and using free ultrasounds to dissuade women from getting an abortion. ¹⁴

Judiciary

In September 2019, UltraViolet advocated for Congress to investigate and impeach Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the wake of the publication of a controversial report in the New York Times, which alleged that Kavanaugh engaged in inappropriate behavior while he was a student at Yale. ¹⁵¹⁶ It later emerged that friends of the person supposedly alleging the behavior said that she did not directly recall the alleged events; they had been recounted by a Democratic-aligned lawyer, Max Stier, and reportedly passed to the Times second-hand. ¹⁷¹⁸

In October 2020, UltraViolet Action joined with Demand Justice in releasing an ad opposing the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court attacking her for rulings favorable to rapists and sexual abusers. ¹⁹

In May 2023, UltraViolet Action supported the Judiciary Act of 2023, which would expand the U.S. Supreme Court from nine to 13 justices, a move that is commonly referred to as “court-packing.” ²⁰

As of May 2025, UltraViolet Action has an ongoing campaign urging its supporters to call their representatives and urge the impeachment of U.S. Supreme Court justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. ²¹

Disinformation

In September 2020, UltraViolet Action led a letter by numerous left-of-center groups calling on presidential debate moderators to “proactively counter bias and disinformation” in the debates. The letter also criticized debate moderator, then-Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, for including “race and violence in our cities” as one of the debate topics which it called “racist dog whistle framework equates Blackness with violence.” ²² UltraViolet claimed that over 12,000 signed a petition demanding Wallace remove the topic from the presidential debate. ²³

In November 2024, UltraViolet announced that it quit posting on X, formerly Twitter, and instead urged its followers to follow the group on BlueSky, a social media platform preferred by left-of-center activists. ²⁴ In January 2025, UltraViolet Action opposed Meta’s decision to get rid of its fact-checking program and shift towards an X-style “Community Notes” model claiming that the changes would harm women and trans people. ²⁵

In May 2025, UltraViolet reluctantly celebrated the passage of the Take It Down Act, which criminalized the distribution of “revenge porn” and required online platforms to create request-and-removal systems to allow victims to have their photos taken down within 48 hours. While UltraViolet applauded a crackdown on “revenge porn”, the group raised concerns that the law could be used by CEOs or politicians to censor content due to what the group claimed were a lack of safeguards against false reporting. ²⁶

Election Campaigns

In October 2020, UltraViolet Action joined with UnidosUS Action Fund to launch a six-figure Spanish language radio ad buy in battleground media markets to urge Latina women to vote. ²⁷

In November 2021 after Democratic defeats in Virginia and a worse than expected performance in New Jersey, UltraViolet Action joined the We Demand More Coalition in demanding that Democrats pass a “transformative agenda” to keep Democratic voters mobilized. Among the things the coalition demanded was a new spending bill, amnesty for illegal immigrants, and an expansion of government-subsidized healthcare. ²⁸

In October 2022, UltraViolet Action, which led the Women’s Disinformation Defense Project (WDDP), announced it would spend $5 million on behalf of Democratic women candidates running for office in battleground states to help them “combat disinformation and fend off racist or sexist attacks against women running for office in the 2022 midterm elections.” The program consisted of “media tracking, ad campaigns, platform accountability, disinformation training, and resources for local advocacy groups.” ²⁹

In April 2024, UltraViolet Action joined with True North to launch a campaign to pressure corporations such as T-Mobile, CVS, General Motors, and Elevance Health (Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield) to stop donating to the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA). The two groups attacked the RAGA for supporting abortion restrictions, attacks on environmental regulations and LGBT interests, and alleged support for 2020 election conspiracies. ³⁰

In July 2024, UltraViolet Action endorsed then-Vice President Kamala Harris for president after then-President Joe Biden suspended his reelection campaign, primarily citing her support for abortion on demand. ³¹ In August 2024, UltraViolet Action applauded Vice President Harris’s selection of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) as her running mate citing his support for social liberal priorities such as expanding abortion and his expansion of social programs. ³²

Transgender Policies

In April 2021, UltraViolet Action joined a letter opposing state-level laws banning biological men from participating in women’s sports and sex changes for children. ³³

As of May 2025, UltraViolet Action has an ongoing petition drive in support of Maine’s refusal to stop allowing biological men to participate in women’s sports. The group claimed President Donald Trump’s executive order banning federal funding for states that allow biological men to participate in women’s sports violates the Maine Human Rights Act. ³⁴

Senate Filibuster

In February 2022, UltraViolet Action denounced Democratic Senators who supported maintaining the filibuster as “collaborators with anti-democratic Republicans seeking to strip women of reproductive rights” after pro-abortion legislation failed to clear the filibuster. ³⁵

In June 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to return abortion regulation to the states, UltraViolet called on Democrats to abolish the U.S. Senate filibuster, pass federal legislation to grant a right to an abortion, and implement a federal takeover of election administration. ³⁶

#NoKings Protests

In June 2025, UltraViolet Action participated in organizing or supporting protests branded under the “#NoKings” banner, a national day of demonstrations positioned as a defense of democratic norms against President Donald Trump. These events were part of a larger mobilization involving over 70 Democratic Party affiliates and allied organizations across at least 19 U.S. states and multiple international locations, according to publicly available event listings on Mobilize.us, a Democratic Party-aligned organizing platform. ^{37 38}

People

Arisha Hatch

Arisha Hatch is the board chair for UltraViolet Action and works as the managing director of campaigns at Color of Change, a social advocacy group based in Oakland, California. ^{39 3} In February 2025, Hatch became the interim executive director of Ultraviolet after Shaunna Thomas stepped down. ⁴⁰

Shaunna Thomas

Shaunna Thomas is the co-founder and former executive director of UltraViolet. Prior to this, Thomas was the executive director of social advocacy group P Street Project. Thomas was also the COO of Progressive Congress, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit arm of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. ³³⁹ Thomas stepped down as executive director of UltraViolet in February 2025. ⁴⁰

Nita Chaudhary

Nita Chaudhary is the co-founder of UltraViolet. Prior to this, Chaudhary was the national campaigns and organizing director at super PAC MoveOn.org Political Action, where she oversaw the fundraising program for the 2008 presidential election. Chaudhary was also the Democratic National Committee’s first director of online during the 2004 election cycle. ³³⁹

Finances

According to UltraViolet Action’s 2023 tax return, the group had $1,591,247 in revenue, $1,470,989 in expenses, and $1,237,060 in net assets. ⁴¹