Political leanings: Democratic
2022 Spending: $42.8 million, combined
Democracy PAC and Democracy PAC II are liberal super PACs created by billionaire George Soros to fund political organizations that help elect Democrats.
Michael Vachon, an adviser, spokesperson and chief of staff for Soros, is the treasurer of Democracy PAC, which was created in January 2019, and Democracy PAC II, which was formed in July 2021. As super PACs, both can accept unlimited donations.
Democracy PAC is solely funded by Soros and the Fund for Policy Reform, of which Soros is the founder and board chairman. The Fund for Policy Reform is one of six Open Society Foundations, which describes itself as “the world’s largest private funder of independent groups working for justice, democratic governance, and human rights.”
As of June 30, Democracy PAC had received $60.7 million for the 2024 campaign cycle — and nearly all of it was donated by the Fund for Policy Reform, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. Of that amount, the super PAC spent $37.3 million on contributions to other liberal political organizations, including a $10 million donation to FF PAC, $7.5 million to Senate Majority PAC, as well as $2.5 million donations each to Planned Parenthood Votes and BlackPAC, a left-leaning super PAC that focuses on mobilizing Black voters.
On the other hand, Democracy PAC II has received about $1.1 million for 2024 — although, it started the cycle with more than $138 million left over from the 2022 campaign. When he made an initial $125 million donation to Democracy PAC II in 2022, Soros released a statement describing the donation as “a long-term investment so that it can continue this important work into the future.”
Through June, Democracy PAC II had spent more than $13 million, including contributions of $2.5 million to SMP and more than $2 million to AB PAC, another liberal super PAC that conducts opposition research to help Democratic candidates and organizations.
In 2022, Democracy PAC raised and spent $25.3 million, while Democracy PAC II raised $155.9 million and spent $17.5 million. Democracy PAC’s largest contribution was $8 million to the Senate Majority PAC and Democracy PAC II’s largest contribution was $6 million to the same group.
FactCheck.org Undergraduate Fellow Sarah Usandivaras contributed to this article.