For Our Future Action Fund is a political action committee that operates in Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Nevada. Founders include prominent Democratic Party donor Tom Steyer, Steyer’s environmentalist advocacy group NextGen Climate, and the AFL-CIO labor union federation. ¹

History

In 2014, after spending $75 million in elections that most Democrats lost, Tom Steyer sought to build a network of liberal issue branded advocacy groups modeled on the network created by libertarian philanthropists Charles and David Koch. The resulting outfit, For Our Future, has been described as, “a clearinghouse for its partners, a bank account, a data repository and a conflict mitigation expert all at once.” ²

In 2016, Steyer’s partnership with labor organizations through the For Our Future caused a rift in the AFL-CIO. In a letter to AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, construction unions warned that the AFL-CIO was being, “infiltrated by financial and political interests.” ³

Funding

In 2016, Democratic operatives created the For Our Future Action Fund with a majority of the funding provided by leftist environmentalist Tom Steyer. ⁴

Steyer launched FOF in 2016 with the support of a number of government-worker-aligned labor unions including the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and the National Education Association (NEA). Steyer utilized his NextGen Climate structure to form FOF. ⁵

Present Activities

In the 2020 election cycle, For Our Future has announced plans to focus on door-to-door engagement with voters and commercial television campaigns targeting contested swing states. ⁶

FOF has targeted Ohio and six other states as states a Democratic Presidential candidate must win to defeat President Donald Trump in 2020. For Our Future has placed priority emphasis on Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Nevada along with 4,000 staff. ⁷ FOF has announced that they will team up with the Service Employees International Union and that both are “committed to expanding the electorate and engaging working people.” ⁸

For Our Future plans to coordinate with Mi Familia Vota, Progress Florida, and Florida Consumer Action Network to support Democratic Party candidates in Florida in 2020. ⁹

People 

Tom Steyer is a billionaire retired hedge-fund executive turned politician and environmentalist activist who has formed a number of left-wing advocacy groups including Need to Impeach and the NextGen Climate network of organizations. ¹⁰

As one of the primary funders of FOF and an environmentalist, Mr. Steyer has been criticized for the previous investment his company made in Correction Corporation of America and a giant coal mine in Australia. ¹¹

In 2016, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, donated $5 million to FOF PAC and the League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund. ¹²

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8. Montellaro, Zach. “Previewing the Second Democratic Debate.” POLITICO, POLITICO, LLC, 30 July 2019, www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-score/2019/07/30/previewing-the-second-democratic-debate-699747.
9. “Hyperlocal Organizing Will Be Key to Turning Florida Blue in 2020, Group Says.” Florida Phoenix, 28 June 2019, www.floridaphoenix.com/blog/hyperlocal-organizing-will-be-key-to-turning-florida-blue-in-2020-group-says/.
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