A pair of conservative funds supporting Republican Party candidates for Congress have about $128 million in cash on hand, according to new federal disclosures.
Between April 15 and April 20, all political committees reporting to the Federal Election Commission filing on either a monthly or quarterly basis will reveal their finances. This collection of documents will offer the public the most complete image offered so far in 2024 of how federal elections are funded.
All told, the Congressional Leadership Fund and Senate Leadership Fund raised about $51.9 million and spent about $13.3 million during the first three months of the year. The two funds collectively have about $128.1 million on hand. Their money will go toward GOP candidates running for the House and Senate.
Neither of the funds is officially associated with the Republican Party or any of its candidates.
Congressional Leadership Fund
The Congressional Leadership Fund, a hybrid PAC founded in 2011 that focuses on House races, had about $68.6 million in cash on hand at the end of March, according to its FEC filings. The fund received about $25.1 million in donations during the first three months of 2024 and spent about $11 million.
In March, the fund sent $5,000 in donations to committees representing Kevin Coughlin, Gabe Evans, Joe McGraw, Randy Niemeyer, Prasanth Reddy, and Orlando Sonza.
Also, in March, the fund received significant donations from conservative megadonors.
Timothy Mellon, an heir to the Mellon family fortune, donated $5 million to the fund, and Ken Griffin, the CEO of Citadel Asset Management, contributed $4 million.
Both Mr. Mellon and Mr. Griffin are key donors of conservative groups ahead of the 2024 elections. The watchdog group OpenSecrets currently ranks Mr. Mellon as the second-largest spender and Mr. Griffin as the fourth-largest of the 2024 election cycle.
The fund also received a large donation from the American Action Network. According to its latest tax filing, the network is a 501(c)(4) organization that shares leadership with the fund. Dan Conston is listed as the president of both the fund and the network.
American Action Network is a 501 organization. It doesn’t follow the same disclosure rules as an FEC-regulated entity. Because of that, 501s are often referred to as dark money organizations.
The network sent the fund $2.5 million in March.
Congressional Leadership Fund received another million-dollar gift in March from Ronald Cameron. Mr. Cameron is the chairman of Delaware-based Mountaire Farms. Mountaire is one of the largest chicken processors in the United States.
According to OpenSecrets donor records, Mr. Cameron is a regular donor to conservative political funds, including the Congressional Leadership Fund.
The fund also received a number of donations from oil companies. The largest came from Occidental Petroleum Corp., which gave $1 million. It also received contributions from Koch Industries Inc., which gave $500,000; the Anschutz Corp., $250,000; and Valero Services Inc., $250,000.
Another corporation, Dallas-based Hillwood Development Company LLC, which the Perot family owns, gave $1 million. Ross Perot Jr., the chairman of the Perot Group, also gave $5,000 to the Congressional Leadership Fund in 2023.
According to OpenSecrets donor records, both Hillwood and Mr. Perot are notable donors to the Congressional Leadership Fund, Senate Leadership Fund, and other conservative causes.
Senate Leadership Fund
The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC founded in 2015, is a counterpart to the Congressional Leadership Fund focused on the Senate.
In the first three months of 2023, the fund took in about $26.8 million and spent about $2.3 million. It ended March with $59.5 million in cash on hand, according to its FEC filings.
So far in 2024, the Senate Leadership Fund has made just one significant transfer: $500,000.00 to the super PAC Keystone Renewal PAC.
Keystone Renewal, according to its FEC filings, is supporting Dave McCormick, a Republican candidate running to unseat Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.).
Many donors who contributed to the Congressional Leadership Fund are also financing the Senate Leadership Fund.
In March, Mr. Griffin gave $7.5 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, Mr. Cameron gave $1 million, and Hillwood gave $1 million.
Like the Congressional Leadership Fund, the Senate Leadership Fund received extensive support from oil companies and their affiliated trade organizations. Occidental sent $2 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, too.
Other oil and gas companies that contributed to the fund in the first quarter include Chevron Corp., which sent $1 million; Koch, $500,000; Anschutz, $500,000; EQT Corp., $250,000; and Ovintiv USA Inc., $200,000. The industry group American Petroleum Institute also donated $1.5 million.
Another corporate donor, RAI Services Co.—which is part of British American Tobacco PLC—contributed $1 million to the fund.
Senate Leadership Fund received a large donation from a dark money group in the first quarter. In March, One Nation, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit that shares a president and CEO—Steven Law—with the fund, sent $2 million to the Senate Leadership Fund.
Additionally, three individuals sent Senate Leadership Fund checks of $1 million or more.
According to OpenSecrets donor records, Marjorie Buckley, the widow of Buckley Muething Capital Management co-founder Walter Buckley Jr., gave $2 million to the Senate Leadership Fund in March. This was the largest political gift of Ms. Buckley’s career.
Both Craig Duchossois, the executive chairman of the Duchossois Group, and Trevor Rees-Jones, the owner and CEO of Chief Oil & Gas LLC, gave $1 million to the Senate Leadership Fund in the first quarter of 2024.
According to OpenSecrets donor records, Mr. Duchossois made multimillion-dollar donations to both of the funds in 2021 and 2023. He’s a regular donor to national conservative causes.
Mr. Rees-Jones, according to his OpenSecrets donor profile, is also a consistent contributor to the leadership funds. However, he has only made a handful of $1 million donations in his career.
