Progressive Group Commits $120 Million to Biden Reelection

President Joe Biden waves to supporters after speaking at an event about lowering costs for American families at the Granite State YMCA Allard Center of Goffstown in Goffstown, N.H., on March 11, 2024. Sophie Park/Getty Images

The League of Conservation Voters is planning on throwing $120 million into the effort to reelect President Joe Biden.

On March 19, the LCV Victory Fund, a super political action committee affiliated with the environmental interest group, announced it would make its “largest investment ever” in supporting President Biden.

“Trump and MAGA Republicans have been clear that if they are in control, they will stop at nothing to dismantle climate progress and our democratic institutions in favor of fulfilling Big Oil’s agenda,“ Pete Maysmith, senior vice president of campaigns for the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), said in a statement. ”Meanwhile, President Biden has done more to fight the climate crisis than any other president in our country’s history.”

LCV has received funding from multiple organizations tied to Arabella Advisors. In 2020, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, one of the most politically active accounts, sent LCV about $3.5 million, according to its IRS records.

A release from the group said it spent $115 million on the 2020 general election cycle and $100 million on the 2022 midterm elections. According to its website, the LCV has only endorsed members of the Democratic Party, or those who caucus with the party, for federal office in 2024.

League of Conservation Voters Inc. is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization. According to its most recent filing with the IRS, the organization raised about $68.5 million in 2022. It ended that year with about $14.9 million in net assets.

LCV did not disclose its donors in that year. However, Sixteen Thirty Fund’s IRS records for 2022 show it sent about $5.1 million to the organization.

According to its website, the LCV is linked to three financial organizations: LCV Victory Fund, a membership organization PAC League of Conservation Voters Action Fund, and the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund. The first two organizations are registered with the Federal Election Commission. The Education Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit group.

According to the FEC, LCV Voters Action Fund and LCV Victory Fund have raised about $15.8 million between January 2023 and the end of January 2024. Almost all of its money, $12.4 million, came from LCV.

According to its IRS records, the Education Fund raised nearly $32 million in 2022 and ended the year with about $18.9 million in net assets.

In 2023, the LCV Victory Fund spent nearly $600,000 backing Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) in a special election to replace ousted Republican Congressman George Santos.

In 2021 and 2022, the LCV Victory Fund and LCV Education Fund raised about $59.9 million, according to the FEC. In 2019 and 2020, the groups raised $62.4 million.

In both cycles, the groups spent heavily to support Democratic Party candidates and oppose Republicans. The largest expenditures came in the 2020 general election when LCV Victory Fund spent more than $17 million to help then-Vice President Biden’s election effort.

According to the FEC, Sixteen Thirty Fund sent about $6.8 million to LCV Victory Fund in 2019.

The Biden campaign, according to its announcements and FEC records, currently holds a significant cash advantage over former President Donald Trump. The two will have a rematch of the 2020 election in November 2024.

On March 17, the campaign committee Biden for President announced the Biden campaign had raised more than $53 million in February and said it now has access to more than $155 million in cash.

Various political action committees will share monthly financial disclosures covering February with the FEC on March 20.