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Ryan Morgan

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Ryan Morgan is a Democratic political operative who has been involved in numerous political campaigns and other left-of-center institutions and media campaigns. His firm, PACtion, is a major Democratic fundraiser. In 2024, he was accused by the presidential campaign of then-Vice President Kamala Harris of running Democratic Victory as a so-called “scam PAC” principally to benefit its operators rather than support political candidates. 1

Career

In 2014, four years after completing his undergraduate education, Ryan Morgan founded a political media and strategy firm called Veracity Media, based in Washington, DC. Archives of the website indicate that the group at least claims to have worked with numerous Democratic campaigns and institutions, including the Need to Impeach Campaign, Advocates for Youth, and the New Dems Action Fund. 2 3

Veracity Media was acquired by BCom, a Nebraska-based political and corporate digital media firm. It is unclear if Morgan is associated with the firm, though it advertises many of the same services that Morgan has done in the past, such as digital advertising and fundraising, list building, and website construction. As of February 2025, Morgan lists that he is still employed at Veracity Media on his LinkedIn page. 4 2

Morgan would go on to run other companies and a PAC that would draw controversy for raking in large amounts of money from small-dollar donors, and in turn spending large amounts of the funds on companies that he himself ran, while doing relatively little in the way of supporting candidates. 1

Morgan founded PACtion, a Democratic-aligned data organization firm that specializes in acquiring email lists for clients. According to the company’s website, its clients have included the Biden-Harris presidential campaign, the Democratic Party, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, Senate Majority PAC, and numerous Democratic politicians. 1 5

He also founded the Democratic-supporting PAC, Democratic Victory, which first became active in the 2020 campaign cycle. However, the PAC drew controversy in 2024 when its profligate spending habits came to light. The largest recipient of PAC funds was Morgan’s own PACtion, which received $3,672,299. The group also paid another of its own officers, Stephen Jewett, $284,179 in consulting fees, and another $100,000 to a for-profit company that Morgan and Jewett had founded together in 2024 called Virginia is for Voters. 1 6

The PAC also spent lavishly on expenses that appeared to benefit Morgan, ranging from exotic high-end hotel stays, to $1.3 million spent on an event at the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix. Meanwhile, of the over $13 million in PAC expenses for the 2024 election cycle, only $3,762,575 was spent on contributions, media, and campaign expenses combined. This is nearly equal to the $3,672,299 that the PAC paid to Morgan’s own data firm. Morgan’s employee profile for the Campaign for Free College Tuition states that he enjoys Formula One motor racing, among other interests. 7 1

In the wake of then-President Joe Biden stepping down from the Democratic ticket during the 2024 election, there was a blitz of Democratic fundraising efforts and widespread concern that fraud and scams were proliferating. Democratic Victory was accused, in a claim supported by the presidential campaign of then-Vice President Kamala Harris. The accusation eventually led to Democratic Victory being thrown off of the left-focused fundraising site ActBlue. 1 8

As of February 2025, Morgan is listed as the CEO of the Campaign for Free College Tuition, a position he was announced to have taken in January 2023. However, it is not clear how active the organization is, or how involved Morgan is in its administration. Its last blog post dates from March 2024. Morgan’s LinkedIn profile does not list any other employment experience other than Veracity Media. 9 2

In the group’s 2023 tax filing, Veracity Media reported only $64,040 in revenue and $90,257 in expenses. Despite the staff directory and blog announcement that Morgan had become the CEO of the group in January of 2023, its tax filing does not list him as the CEO, or on the board of the group at all. 10

Political Views

Ryan Morgan’s specific policy views are not publicly known, but he and his firms have raised very large sums of money and worked as vendors for numerous Democratic campaigns. His firm PACtion identifies as progressive. Morgan is also the CEO of the left-of-center Campaign for Free College, which promotes universal tax-funded higher education. 5 11

References

  1. Stein, Sam. “They Begged Dems for Money—Then Spent Lavishly on Hotels and Entertainment.” The Bulwark, November 8, 2024. Accessed February 17, 2025.  https://www.thebulwark.com/p/democratic-begged-donors-spent-lavishly-scam-pac.
  2. “Ryan Morgan.” LinkedIn.com. Accessed February 17, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-morgan-338325150/.
  3. “Veracity Media – Digital Strategy Consulting.” VeracityMedia.com, Archived from the original January 21, 2022. Accessed February 17, 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20220121004235/https://veracitymedia.com/.
  4. “BCom Marks Decade of Success with Acquisition of Veracity Media and Updated Brand.” BComsolutions, Accessed February 17, 2025. https://archive.bcom.solutions/bcom-acquires-veracity-media/.
  5. “PACtion – The Leader in Democratic List Acquisition.” PACtion. Accessed February 17, 2025. https://wp.paction.us/.
  6. Center for Responsive Politics “Democratic Victory PAC PAC Expenditures.” OpenSecrets. Accessed February 17, 2025. https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/democratic-victory-pac/C00753558/expenditures/2024.
  7. “Democratic Victory PAC PAC Expenditures.” OpenSecrets. Accessed February 17, 2025. https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/democratic-victory-pac/C00753558/expenditures/2024.
  8. Stein, Sam. “Dem Scam PACs That Harris Criticized Are Booted Off Fundraising Platform.” The Bulwark, November 8, 2024. https://www.thebulwark.com/p/actblue-boots-democratic-scam-pacs-harris-criticized.
  9. [1] “Who We Are.” The Campaign for Free College Tuition. Accessed February 17, 2025. https://www.freecollegenow.org/who-we-are.
  10. The Campaign for Free College Tuition, Return of an Organization Exempt from income Tax (Form 990), 2023, Part IV
  11. “Who We Are.” The Campaign for Free College Tuition. Accessed February 17, 2025. https://www.freecollegenow.org/who-we-are.
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