With Daniel Lippman FIRST IN PI — ANNALS OF DARK MONEY: Sixteen Thirty Fund , one of the left’s largest hubs of dark money, saw a slowdown in both fundraising and spending last year, but the nonprofit still pulled in more than $181 million in 2023, according to a new tax filing shared first with PI. — The haul marks a $10 million decline from a year prior, but is a more than $40 million increase from 2019 , the year before the previous presidential election — an indicator of liberal groups’ staying power in what was then the post-Trump era. — Spending by the Sixteen Thirty Fund dropped by more than a quarter last year to $141.3 million, which is not unusual in odd-numbered years between federal midterm and presidential elections. — Those outlays were still tens of millions higher than what the nonprofit spent in 2019, with Sixteen Thirty Fund pumping money into a network of other liberal dark money groups supporting Democratic candidates and causes, like fighting climate change and supporting ballot initiatives on abortion access as the issue moved into the states. — Just four donors accounted for close to two-thirds of Sixteen Thirty Fund’s revenues last year, according to its tax filing. One donor gave the group a whopping $50.5 million, while others wrote checks for $31.4 million, $21.8 million and $13.6 million apiece. — Sixteen Thirty Fund, a 501(c)(4) group, is not required to disclose its donors, though in a statement accompanying the group’s tax return its president, Amy Kurtz , reiterated that “Sixteen Thirty Fund has been on the record actively supporting a massive rewrite of the rules to provide more transparency and disclosure in our elections” and said the group would continue to push for reforms. — In all, Sixteen Thirty Fund doled out $106.4 million in grants to more than 240 organizations, including 25 donations of more than $1 million. Its largest single donation of $8.2 million went to North Fund, another liberal dark money network managed by the consultancy Arabella Advisors. — Sixteen Thirty Fund sent another $8.2 million to two PACs leading the successful campaign in Ohio to enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution, as well as $5.6 million to defeat a twin effort that would make it harder to amend Ohio’s constitution, while a group supporting the expansion of paid leave and workers rights in Nebraska got $1.9 million. — “We jumped in to support organizers on the ground in states like Missouri, Nebraska, Montana, and Florida as they prepared to bring key policies — like abortion rights, paid sick leave, and fair congressional maps – directly to voters,” said Kurtz. “It takes time and resources to put issues on the ballot, and our early investments in these efforts contributed to local organizations’ success.” — The Congressional Integrity Project, a group that popped up in 2022 to target Republican lawmakers involved in the impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden, received $1 million from Sixteen Thirty Fund. — The conservative climate group Citizens For Responsible Energy Solutions got $200,000 from the fund, meanwhile the climate and labor coalition Climate Jobs National Resource Center Action Fund received almost $5 million. Family Friendly Action Fund, a nonprofit whose affiliate pledged to spend $40 million reelecting Biden and other Democrats this year, received $3.3 million from Sixteen Thirty Fund. — Sixteen Thirty Fund funneled millions more to dark money groups with ostensibly local ties and benign-sounding names — such as Empire State Voices, Advancing AZ, Maine Peoples Alliance, Working Montanans and A Better Wisconsin Together — that spent heavily on key House and Senate battleground races. — While FEC records show $2.3 million in donations to federal PACs, the extent of Sixteen Thirty Fund’s 2024 fundraising and spending won’t be known until late next year, months after Donald Trump is sworn in for his second term. In 2020, the nonprofit poured an astonishing $410 million into progressive causes, sweeping Democrats into unified control of Washington. Happy Thursday and welcome to PI. What a month this week has been, huh? Prepping any memos to clients on the Trump cabinet picks? Send them my way: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on X: @caitlinoprysko.
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CONTINENTAL POACHES FORMER RUBIO AIDE: Continental Strategy, the Florida-based government affairs shop started by former Florida lawmaker and Trump adviser Carlos Trujillo , has made another key move positioning the firm to capitalize on the second Trump administration, bringing on a former top aide to Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio. — Alberto Martinez, who served as Rubio’s chief of staff before moving on to help found Republican public affairs and consulting firm Targeted Victory , has joined Continental as a managing partner to help grow the firm’s footprint in D.C. — In a statement, Trujillo said Martinez is “uniquely positioned to lead our growth efforts in D.C.” as the firm works to “expand our impact on behalf of our clients.” Rubio, in a statement provided by the firm, lauded Martinez’s “deep understanding of Donald Trump's historic victory and policy agenda, paired with his ability to deliver strategic counsel” as an “invaluable resource for anyone seeking to navigate how these shifts impact their business, customers, and the broader marketplace.” — Last week, just days after the election, Continental announced a promotion for Katie Wiles, the daughter of newly named White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, with a new remit of business development for the firm. AUTOMAKERS’ EV PLEAS: “The trade group representing major automakers urged GOP tax writers last month to preserve the full suite of tax credits for electric vehicles in Democrats’ climate law — a signal that Republicans are likely to face industry opposition as they prepare to roll back the EV incentives,” our James Bikales reports. — “In the October letter obtained by POLITICO on Wednesday, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation — which represents industry giants including Ford, GM, Stellantis, Honda and Toyota — argued that incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act build on the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to maintain a ‘globally competitive American auto industry’ amid China’s growing dominance of the market.” — “Sustaining these complementary provisions — including the Advanced Manufacturing Tax Credit, consumer tax credit and commercial leasing credit — is critical to cementing the U.S. as a global leader in the future of automotive technology and manufacturing,” David Schwietert, the group’s chief government affairs and policy officer wrote in the letter to Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee. ANNALS OF THE RESISTANCE: “Democracy Forward, a liberal-leaning legal organization that frequently battled the first Trump administration in court, on Thursday unveiled a large-scale new effort aimed at thwarting” Trump’s agenda from the get-go. — “More than 800 lawyers at 280 organizations have begun developing cases and workshopping specific challenges to what the group has identified as 600 ‘priority legal threats’ — potential regulations, laws and other administrative actions that could require a legal response, its leaders said. The project, called Democracy 2025, aims to be a hub of opposition to the new Trump administration.” — “Unlike in 2017, when Democratic lawyers were unprepared for the onslaught of conservative policies, the intent is to be ready to unleash a flurry of lawsuits immediately.” — The group “has spent the last two years working to identify the possible actions the new Trump administration could take on issues they see as key priorities to defend, the group’s leaders said, using as a blueprint Mr. Trump’s first-term actions, his campaign promises and plans released by his allies, including the Heritage Foundation and its Project 2025 agenda.” 990 SZN: NBC News’ Brandy Zadrozny reports that “after years of financial growth, Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine nonprofit group founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,” who was named as Trump’s pick to head up HHS today, “recorded a more than 30% drop in revenue last year, to $16 million, according to recent tax filings.” — “The pandemic boosted the profiles and pocketbooks of anti-vaccine organizations and activists, but none more than Children’s Health Defense and Kennedy. The nonprofit doubled its revenue in 2020 to $6.8 million, then grew again to $16 million in 2021 and $23.5 million in 2022. Last year was the first substantial loss in the organization’s history, of about $3 million, driven by a reduction in contributions, according to the filings.” — “The decline in revenue coincides with one notable change within the group last year: the absence of its most prominent advocate. Kennedy had led Children’s Health Defense since 2015, serving as both chairman and chief litigation counsel until April 2023, when the group announced he was going ‘on leave’ to run for president.” SPOTTED last night at the Consumer Technology Association 's townhouse for the Asian American Pacific Islander Leadership Association's second annual Diwali celebration, per a tipster: Reps. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), and Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.), Lauri Ng, Jed Bhuta, Neal Patel Veer Shah, Nabil Mai, Kelsey Kelly, Nikki Bainum-Ramirez, Varun Krovi, Ninio Fetalvo, Nelson Garcia, Yuri Uno, Alekhya Tallapaka, Saif Inam, Haider Murtaza, Anup Rao, Mandar Jadhav, Victor Yang, Ananda Bhatia, Pranay Mittal, Christopher Zhen, Lucas Lam, Stephanie Penn, Anup Rap, Harsh Patel, and Jaliya Nagahawatte. — And at a “Diagnosing the 2024 Election” breakfast hosted by Alston & Bird, which featured a conversation between Earl Pomeroy and Reps. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) and Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), per a tipser: Jane Lucas of Alston & Bird, Chris Sherin of the American Medical Association, Kaitlyn Lane of CVS Health, Devin Gerzof of the American Hopsital Association, Isaac Fordjour of Walgreens, Javier Barajas of DaVita, Mo Cowan of Devoted Health, Holly Grosholz of the American Clinical Laboratory Association, Brad Conway of the American College of Gastroenterology, James Tucker of Duke Health, Matt Fitting of Emergent BioSolutions, Lisa Robin of the Federation of State Medical Boards, Ali Esquea of Cambia, Caroline Doxsee of Hologic, George Vradenburg of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s, Alex Currie of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Bob Reilly of Wellspan Health, Andy Bopp of the American Occupational Therapy Association and more.
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