VoteVets Action Fund

VoteVets Action Fund has been characterized as a “dark money” group due to its failure to disclose donors. The organization operated alongside but as a legally separate entity from the VoteVets Political Action Committee, a federal hybrid committee that could both contribute directly to candidates and spend unlimited sums on independent expenditures. As a 501(c)(4) tax-exempt group, the Action Fund was required to devote the majority of its spending to issue advocacy rather than electoral politics; however, the Center for Public Integrity reported that in the fiscal year covering the 2014 election it spent more than half of the money it raised on “direct or indirect political campaign activities,” a level that remained lawful only because that spending amounted to roughly 41 percent of its total expenditures. ^{1  3}

Background and History

VoteVets Action Fund was founded in 2006 by a group of military veterans who opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and sought to influence U.S. foreign-policy decision-making. VoteVets was structured as two legally separate organizations that shared a brand: the VoteVets Political Action Committee, a federal political committee; and VoteVets Action Fund, a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization that was able to make independent political expenditures. Under this structure, the fund was able to keep its donors anonymous. ^{4  2  5}

VoteVets Action Fund advocates left-of-center policy while supporting the campaigns of Democratic candidates. Its stated policy priorities included opposing the privatization of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health system, advancing pro-union labor policy, and supporting environmentalist policy to address climate change. It had also supported left-of-center policy on immigration, civil rights and voting, and LGBT issues. ^{4  3  5}

Projects and Initiatives

VoteVets Action Fund’s principal activities included running issue-advocacy advertising on television, radio, print, and online; organizing veteran “fly-ins” to lobby members of Congress in Washington; and making independent expenditures in federal elections that it reported to the Federal Election Commission. During the 2014 election cycle, the Action Fund reported making nearly $2,400,000 in independent expenditures supporting Democratic candidates, and the Center for Public Integrity reported that its advertising targets included U.S. Senator and then-Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR). ^{4  1}

In the 2016 cycle, the Action Fund reported spending more than $623,000 to support U.S. Representative Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), a Democrat who was challenging then-incumbent U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL), making VoteVets the largest outside spender in that Senate race at the time of the report. In the 2018 cycle, the Action Fund spent roughly $2,000,000, about $1,200,000 of it on advertising against Republican candidates, including more than $500,000 opposing then-incumbent U.S. Representative Bruce Poliquin (R-ME), who lost Maine’s 2nd District race to Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME). In 2019, the Action Fund spent $226,882 in independent expenditures used exclusively to support Democrat Dan McCready and oppose Republican Dan Bishop in the special re-run election for North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District, a race McCready lost. ^{1  3}

The Action Fund was criticized over its affiliation with “dark money,” due to millions in undisclosed contributors. The Center for Public Integrity reported that in fiscal year 2014 the group raised more than $5,500,000 from 52 contributors, none of whom it identified voluntarily, and that its two largest donors gave $805,000 and $735,000 respectively, together accounting for more than a quarter of its income. Through tax filings and public records, the same outlet identified several of the group’s contributors as labor unions and allied advocacy organizations, including a $500,000 contribution reported in 2013 by the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry, a $55,000 contribution from the left-of-center coalition America Votes, and a $96,000 contribution from the American Federation of Government Employees. A spokesman for the Action Fund, Eric Schmeltzer, defended the practice, saying that the organization spent a majority of its funds on issue advocacy and did not voluntarily disclose donors because the law did not require it. ^{1  3}

Leadership

Jon Soltz, an Iraq War veteran, was the founding head of VoteVets from its 2006 founding and worked for years as the chairman of both the VoteVets PAC and VoteVets Action Fund. Soltz, who served as an Army officer in Iraq, simultaneously led the Vet Voice Foundation, a related 501(c)(3) charitable organization. He resigned his director and chairman positions in June 2024. ^{2  3  6}

As of 2026, the organization did not list its staff, officers, or board members on its website. According to its 2025 tax filing, Paul D. Eaton, a retired senior military officer, was the organization’s director, chairman, and president. However, an April 2026 press release only identified him as a senior advisor. ^{6  7}