Victory 2020 is a Democratic Party-aligned political action committee (PAC) created in May of 2020. Victory 2020 is closely associated with American Bridge 21st Century, a left-of-center PAC that typically funds media criticism of Republican politicians, and Unite the Country, a PAC created in 2019 to support the presidential candidacy of Democratic nominee Joe Biden. ¹

Background

Victory 2020 was registered with the Federal Election Commission on May 28, 2020 by Democratic operative and left-of-center activist Bradley Beychok. Beychok is the president and co-founder of the American Bridge 21^st Century PAC, a liberal PAC that typically funds media that is critical of Republican politicians. Aside from Beychok, Victory 2020 lists only one employee: Democratic operative and political consultant Rodell Mollineau. Mollineau is a partner and co-founder of ROKK Solutions, a consulting firm in Washington, D.C. Mollineau was also the former president of American Bridge 21^st Century. ²

Funding

Victory 2020 has received the majority of its funding from the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a political advocacy organization managed by Arabella Advisors. Left-leaning media outlet Politico has noted that the Fund is used to funnel “dark money” to various liberal and left-progressive organizations and to host over 100 “pop-up groups” that exist largely as websites designed to give the impression of widespread support for a variety of left-of-center advocacy campaigns. ³⁴⁵

The Sixteen Thirty Fund has also given substantial donations to left-of-center PACs including Raise Up Missouri, which sought to raise Missouri’s minimum wage via a 2018 ballot initiative, and American Bridge 21^st Century, which paid for multiple advertisements critical of President Donald Trump in battleground states during the 2020 election cycle. The Fund has also given donations to other major PACs aligned with the Democratic Party, including Unite the Country, Priorities USA Action, Black PAC, House Majority PAC,  Change NOW, Future Forward USA, and the NextGen Climate Action Committee. ⁶

Several prominent Democratic donors have also made contributions to Victory 2020, including

Mellody Hobson, the president and co-CEO of Ariel Investments, and film director James L. Brooks. ⁷

Contributions

As of October 2020, Victory 2020 had disbursed slightly over $8.9 million in the 2020 election cycle. Victory 2020 itemized $8.8 million of that sum as individual contributions. In June 2020, Victory 2020 contributed $3.6 million to left-wing Super PAC Unite the Country, $1,536 to the left-of-center ActBlue, and $2.3 million to American Bridge 21^st Century. ⁸

People

Bradley Beychok is the treasurer of Victory 2020. Beychok is the president and co-founder (alongside liberal activist David Brock) of the American Bridge 21st Century PAC. Previously, Beychok was the president and founder of Media Matters for America, a nonprofit organization that presents itself as a fact-checker for conservative media outlets. Beychok previously worked under James Carville, a left-of-center former political operative turned commentator and media personality. ⁹

Rodell Mollineau is the assistant treasurer of Victory 2020. Mollineau is a partner at ROKK Solutions, a Democratic-aligned political affairs and public relations consulting firm. Formerly, Mollineau was the president of American Bridge 21^st Century. Before working in consulting, Mollineau was a senior aide to former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV), staff director for the Senate Democratic Communications Center, press aide to former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD), communications director for U.S. Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR), and communications director for former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack (D). Additionally, Mollineau is a senior advisor to Unite the Country, a Biden-affiliated left-wing Super PAC. ¹⁰

1. “Victory 2020: Financial Summary: Total contributions.” Federal Election Commission. Accessed November 16, 2020. https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00747246/?tab=spending#total-disbursements
2. “Filing FEC-1408935: Victory 2020.” Federal Election Commission. May 28, 2020. Accessed November 16, 2020. https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00747246/1408935/
3. Hayden R. Ludwig. “Big Money in Dark Shadows: Arabella Advisors’ Half-billion-dollar ‘Dark Money’ Network.” Capital Research Center (DarkMoneyATM.org). Accessed November 20, 2020. https://darkmoneyatm.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/CRC_Arabella-Advisors-Dark-Money_small.pdf
4. Scott Bland and Maggie Severns. “Documents reveal massive ‘dark-money’ group boosted Democrats in 2018.” Politico. November 19, 2019. Accessed November 21, 2019. https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/19/dark-money-democrats-midterm-071725
5. Data from FEC. Search criteria: Donations from Sixteen Thirty Fund for the 2019-20 election cycle. Accessed November 16, 2020. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=sixteen+thirty+fund&two_year_transaction_period=2020
6. Data from FEC. Search criteria: Donations from Sixteen Thirty Fund for the 2019-20 election cycle. Accessed November 16, 2020. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=sixteen+thirty+fund&two_year_transaction_period=2020
7. “Victory 2020: Financial Summary: Individual Contributions.” Federal Election Commission. Accessed November 16, 2020 https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00747246/?tab=raising#total-receipts
8. “Victory 2020: Financial Summary: Total contributions.” Federal Election Commission. Accessed November 16, 2020. https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00747246/?tab=spending#total-disbursements
9. “Bradley Beychok.” American Association of Political Consultants. Accessed November 16, 2020. https://theaapc.org/bradleu-beychok/
10. “Rodell Mollineau: Partner.” ROKK Solutions. Accessed November 16, 2020. https://rokksolutions.com/why-us/rodell-mollineau/