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Political Party/527

Unite the Country

Formation:

2019
President:

Steve Schale

Unite the Country PAC is a left-wing super PAC started in 2019 to help support the 2020 Democratic presidential campaign of former vice president Joe Biden. [1]

Funding in 2020 Election

Spending

At the end of March 2020, Unite the Country PAC spent $1 million on an ad criticizing President Donald Trump’s handling of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. [2] Unite the Country PAC’s president Steve Schale commented, “The reality is that we are in this mess because he didn’t take the crisis seriously at a time when he needed to.” He added, “this election in November is going to be defined probably largely by how the U.S. responded to the health crisis and how we get out of it economically. It’s an important conversation to have.” [3]

Donors

During the 2020 election cycle, Unite the Country, along Priorities USA, received a combined $27.9 million from the financial sector. [4] Out of the $150 million Biden has received from the financial sector since 1988, roughly $60 million was put towards his campaign to defeat President Donald Trump in November 2020. [5]

Unite the Country received $3.5 million in 2020 from the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a left-of-center 501(c)(4) advocacy group and pass-through associated with the consultancy Arabella Advisors in Washington, DC. [6]

References

  1. Levy, Pema. “The 2020 Election is Now About the Coronavirus. Here’s How Progressive Groups Plan to Win it.” Mother Jones. April 3rd, 2020. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/04/coronavirus-democratic-messaging/ ^
  2. Levy, Pema. “The 2020 Election is Now About the Coronavirus. Here’s How Progressive Groups Plan to Win it.” Mother Jones. April 3rd, 2020. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/04/coronavirus-democratic-messaging/ ^
  3. O’Keefe, Ed. “Democratic super PAC ads attack Trump’s handling of coronavirus crisis.” CBS News. March 25, 2020. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/democratic-super-pac-ads-attack-trumps-handling-of-coronavirus-crisis/ ^
  4. Anderson, Colin. “Biden and Harris Have Received $155 Million From Financial Sector.” The Washington Free Beacon. August 17, 2020. https://freebeacon.com/2020-election/biden-and-harris-have-received-155-million-from-financial-sector/ ^
  5. Anderson, Colin. “Biden and Harris Have Received $155 Million From Financial Sector.” The Washington Free Beacon. August 17, 2020. https://freebeacon.com/2020-election/biden-and-harris-have-received-155-million-from-financial-sector/ ^
  6. Data from FEC. Search criteria: Donations from Sixteen Thirty Fund for the 2019-20 election cycle. Search conducted Sept. 14, 2020. Results here: https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=sixteen+thirty+fund&two_year_transaction_period=2020 ^
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