Open Democracy PAC

The Sixteen Thirty Fund was listed as one of the major funders of the Open Democracy PAC. ^{4 5}

Background

The Open Democracy PAC was registered with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in March 2021. ⁶ It is classified as a “Democratic/Liberal” organization by OpenSecrets (Center for Responsive Politics). ⁷ It was established to endorse Democratic state lawmakers and election administrators who support automatic voter registration and to “eliminate registration as a barrier to vote.” ¹ The PAC made contributions to Democratic candidates at the state and local level and to left-of-center firms that focus on political fundraising, consulting, and support for the Democratic platform. ³

In 2024 the Open Democracy PAC established the Women in Democracy project to raise money for women candidates at the state and local levels who have been pushing for expanded voting access, claiming that “Donald Trump’s presidency has ramped up the urgency in Democratic circles to pass pro-democracy legislation.” In 2024 it endorsed seven Democratic state legislators involved in voting-related legislation, including early voting, mail-in voting, and expansion of voting rights to released convicted felons. ²

The PAC is listed as terminated as of March 2025. ⁶ Its website address redirects to a website for State + Local Election Alliance, which was established in 2024 to focus on state and local elections. ⁸

On January 31, 2025, the Statement of Organization was amended to add State + Local Election Alliance as an affiliated organization. ⁹ In February 2025, the Open Democracy PAC disbursed over $150,000 to “affiliated committee” State + Local Election Alliance ³ and reported this in its FEC Termination Report. ¹⁰

Funding

Open Democracy PAC raised $5.49 million and spent $4.86 million during the 2022 election cycle. During the 2024 election cycle it raised $1.95 million and spent $2.39 million. ¹¹

Left-of-center lobbying and advocacy organization Sixteen Thirty Fund contributed over $4.3 million to the PAC in the 2022 election cycle and $550,000 in the 2024 election cycle. Other large contributors included the Green Advocacy Project, an organization that typically donates to left-of-center political organizations such as the Working Families Party, the Worker Power PAC, and Forward Justice; philanthropist and Democratic political donor John Pritzker; Democratic political donor Mark Heising; left-of-center advocacy group Global Impact Social Welfare Fund; and Regan Pritzker. ^{4 5}

Disbursements

The Open Democracy PAC disbursements include campaign contributions to several Democratic candidates such as Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar (D), California state Sen. Monique Limon (D-Santa Barbara), Wisconsin State Assembly candidate Yee Leng Xiong, Wisconsin State Assemblyman Ryan Spaude (D-Aushwabenon), the California Democratic Party, North Carolina Governor Josh Stein (D), Pennsylvania state Rep. Joanna McClinton (D-Philadelphia), Michigan state Sen. Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids), former California state Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton), New Jersey state Sen. Andrew Zwicker (D), and Boise Fact Check PAC, which supports Boise Mayor Lauren McLean (D). ^{12 3}

Other PAC disbursements include payments to left-of-center fundraising platform Democracy Engine, ActBlue Technical Services, Progressive Strategies (a consulting firm focused on building “the capacity of the progressive movement”), ¹³ Democratic campaign communications consulting firm BerlinRosen, the Michigan House Democratic Fund, Penelope PAC (which works to elect Democrats across Michigan), ¹⁴ Data for Progress, and fundraising software company EveryAction which supports left-of-center nonprofit groups such as the National Audubon Society and the NAACP. ^{15 3}

Leadership

Eric Ming was executive director of the Open Democracy PAC. ² Ming earned a bachelor’s degree with a major in political science at St. Norbert College. He has had positions with former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), the super PAC “Take Down Joe Walsh” targeting the former Republican Representative from Illinois, the New Organizing Institute, For Our Future PAC, and Run the World Digital, a “progressive, grassroots consulting firm.” Ming was director of digital and paid media for 2020 Democratic Presidential candidate Andrew Yang and is the campaign director for the Center for Secure and Modern Elections (CSME). CSME is a left-of-center fiscally sponsored project of the New Venture Fund that supports automatic voter registration. ^{16 17 18}

Samuel Nitz was the PAC’s treasurer. He is president at left-of-center campaign consulting firm Asgard Strategies and has worked for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, EMILY’s List, and left-of-center political communications firm Fireside Campaigns. ¹⁹

Advisory board members included Michael Blake, a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee; Jessica Post, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee; Addisu Demissie, a campaign manager who has run campaigns for Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and California Governor Gavin Newsom (D); and Jae Matilsky, founding director of CSME. ²⁰