Despite launching recently, in 2018, Future Forward USA PAC was the second-highest-spending liberal Super PAC in the 2020 election cycle—only the Senate Majority PAC spent more. Tech money and dark money helped the group spend $141.6 million, the bulk of it on carefully curated ads that flooded the airwaves in the run-up to election day.
Future Forward, also called FF PAC, was reportedly run by Chauncey McLean, former head of media tracking for the Democratic Party and part of the team credited with enhancing the techniques of television ad buys. FF PAC focused its money in key states where it thought it could make the most impact, including Texas, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
OpenSecrets.org reports FF PAC spent just under $140 million on media buys in total, and it appears to have worked with liberal production team Waterfront Strategies to make the bulk of its ads. Focused mostly on supporting the candidacy of Joe Biden and opposing incumbent President Donald Trump, FF PAC’s spots contributed to a record-setting year in political ads with Biden and supporting groups spending $1.661 billion on ads compared to $1.26 billion for Trump.
Heavy hitters writing big checks
The group first got serious news attention when Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz made a significant investment. Moskovitz gave a total of nearly $47 million to FF PAC in 2020, and told Recode in October he hoped to fund ads late in the race in the hopes of optimizing the impact on voters. The group touted its tailor-made ads using a process called “content testing,” which they claimed enhanced their ads’ effectiveness.
FF PAC attracted other tech moguls like Google’s former CEO Eric Schmidt, who gave more than $2.5 million, Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson and his wife Erica, who together gave $6 million, and Evan Williams of Medium, who gave $250,000. The Super PAC also took in donations from familiar liberal mega-donors like Susan Mandel ($2 million), Pat Stryker ($1 million), Patty Quillin ($1 million), Joshua Bekenstein ($500,000) and Vin Ryan ($250,000).
No fingerprints
But a large chunk of FF PAC’s funding came in through dark money. The group’s affiliated 501(c)(4) Future Forward USA Action, which is not required to disclose its donors, contributed $61,320,688 to the Super PAC, while liberal dark money behemoth Sixteen Thirty Fund gave nearly $9 million in funds from unknown sources. Campaign finance researchers will have a better sense of how many gifts and how many donors made these gifts when these groups file their tax forms at the end of 2021, but for now, all we know is that FF PAC benefited significantly from the kind of dark money liberals have mastered in recent election cycles.
The Super PAC’s leadership hasn’t been vocal about its goals for the future, but it seems likely the group will continue to attract liberal mega-donors and Silicon Valley’s top contributors ahead of the 2022 midterms.
