Restoration PAC is a political action committee (PAC) that campaigns against Democratic candidates and in support of Republican candidates. During the 2020 general election, it spent more than $19.7 million to support President Donald Trump’s unsuccessful reelection campaign. ¹

Restoration PAC is primarily funded by businessman Dick Uihlein and his wife. In November 2022, he was criticized for his funding of Restoration PAC, its advocacy arm Restoration Action, and its subsidiary Voter Reference Foundation LLC (VRF) for allegedly being a “hub for election denial.” ²

Background

Founded in 2015, Restoration PAC is a right-of-center political action committee that supports Republican candidates and advocates in support of election integrity laws. It also campaigns against Planned Parenthood, “Big Tech,” and “biased liberal media.” ³

On Restoration PAC’s podcast, its founder and host, Doug Truax, has stated that a primary goal of Restoration PAC is exposing voter fraud and promoting election integrity. Restoration PAC also works in coordination with its advocacy arm, Restoration of America, on initiatives regarding election security. ⁴

Activities

Restoration PAC publishes a podcast titled First Right, and it is hosted by its founder, Doug Truax. It interviews conservatives and discusses election integrity, abortion, and other issues. ^{5 6}

In March 2022, ProPublica published an article claiming that Restoration PAC funded the Voter Reference Foundation LLC, a subsidiary of Restoration PAC’s advocacy arm, Restoration Action. It publishes publicly available voter data for individuals to search for potential voter fraud. ProPublica claims that the subsidiary was created following a $1.5 million donation from Dick Uihlein to the PAC, which subsequently paid Pipeline Media $900,000 for data and data analysis used by VRF. The article also points out that VRF is legally owned by Restoration of America, but on First Right, Truax referred to VRF as an organization “we helped create.” ⁷

Financials

During the 2022 election cycle, Restoration PAC gave over $4.5 million to Women Speak Out PAC, $3.8 million to the American Principles Project, $2.8 million to Americas PAC, $1.2 million to Election Integrity PAC, and $900,000 to the 1776 Project. ⁸ In total, it gave more than $15.6 million to other PACs and spent $3.4 million on ads out of its $23.4 million in total expenditures in 2022. ⁹

Conservative billionaire Dick Uihlein and his wife have been the primary funders of Restoration PAC since its inception. They were responsible for over $7.5 million or 92 percent of Restoration PAC’s funding during the 2021 election cycle as well as $24.5 million or 97 percent during the 2020 cycle and, as of November 2022, has given $44 million to the group since its inception in 2015. ^{10 11 12}

During the 2020 election, Restoration PAC spent a total of $19.7 million, $16.6 million of which went towards opposing Joe Biden’s campaign or in support of Donald Trump’s campaign. ¹³

Leadership

Restoration PAC and Restoration Action was founded by Doug Truax, who unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in Illinois in 2014 as a Republican. ¹⁴ He is an American businessman who since 2012 has served as the founder and CEO of Everlong Group Medical Captive Services, a health insurance-related company. ¹⁵

1. “Millions of Dollars Poured into a ‘Dark Money’ Group Tied to Billionaire-Backed Super PAC and Efforts to Expose Voter Rolls.” OpenSecrets News. March 10, 2022. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2022/03/millions-of-dollars-poured-into-a-dark-money-group-tied-to-billionaire-backed-super-pac-and-efforts-to-expose-voter-rolls/.
2. Sollenberger, Roger. “Inside the Billionaire-Backed ‘Hub for Election Denial’.” The Daily Beast. November 28, 2022. https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-the-billionaire-backed-dick-uihlein-hub-for-election-denial-restoration-action.
3. O’Matz, Megan. “Billionaire-Backed Group Enlists Trump-Supporting Citizens to Hunt for Voter Fraud Using Discredited Techniques.” ProPublica. March 7, 2022. https://www.propublica.org/article/voter-ref-foundation.
4. O’Matz, Megan. “Billionaire-Backed Group Enlists Trump-Supporting Citizens to Hunt for Voter Fraud Using Discredited Techniques.” ProPublica. March 7, 2022. https://www.propublica.org/article/voter-ref-foundation.
5. O’Matz, Megan. “Billionaire-Backed Group Enlists Trump-Supporting Citizens to Hunt for Voter Fraud Using Discredited Techniques.” ProPublica. March 7, 2022. https://www.propublica.org/article/voter-ref-foundation.
6. Curry, Dan. “First Right Podcast on Apple Podcasts.” Apple Podcasts. December 16, 2022. https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/first-right-podcast/id1531581534.
7. O’Matz, Megan. “Billionaire-Backed Group Enlists Trump-Supporting Citizens to Hunt for Voter Fraud Using Discredited Techniques.” ProPublica. March 7, 2022. https://www.propublica.org/article/voter-ref-foundation.
8. “Restoration PAC PAC to PAC/Party.” OpenSecrets. Accessed December 19, 2022. https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/restoration-pac/C00571588/pac-to-pac/2022.
9. “Restoration PAC PAC Expenditures.” OpenSecrets. Accessed December 19, 2022. https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/restoration-pac/C00571588/expenditures/2022.
10. “Millions of Dollars Poured into a ‘Dark Money’ Group Tied to Billionaire-Backed Super PAC and Efforts to Expose Voter Rolls.” OpenSecrets News. March 10, 2022. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2022/03/millions-of-dollars-poured-into-a-dark-money-group-tied-to-billionaire-backed-super-pac-and-efforts-to-expose-voter-rolls/.
11. O’Matz, Megan. “Billionaire-Backed Group Enlists Trump-Supporting Citizens to Hunt for Voter Fraud Using Discredited Techniques.” ProPublica. March 7, 2022. https://www.propublica.org/article/voter-ref-foundation.
12. Sollenberger, Roger. “Inside the Billionaire-Backed ‘Hub for Election Denial’.” The Daily Beast. The Daily Beast Company, November 28, 2022. https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-the-billionaire-backed-dick-uihlein-hub-for-election-denial-restoration-action.
13. “Millions of Dollars Poured into a ‘Dark Money’ Group Tied to Billionaire-Backed Super PAC and Efforts to Expose Voter Rolls.” OpenSecrets News. March 10, 2022. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2022/03/millions-of-dollars-poured-into-a-dark-money-group-tied-to-billionaire-backed-super-pac-and-efforts-to-expose-voter-rolls/.
14. “Millions of Dollars Poured into a ‘Dark Money’ Group Tied to Billionaire-Backed Super PAC and Efforts to Expose Voter Rolls.” OpenSecrets News. March 10, 2022. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2022/03/millions-of-dollars-poured-into-a-dark-money-group-tied-to-billionaire-backed-super-pac-and-efforts-to-expose-voter-rolls/
15. “Doug Truax.” LinkedIn. Accessed December 19, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-truax-272a42.