The 'Saviors of Democracy'
The 'Saviors of Democracy'
Progressives Are Bankrolling Election Changes to Fix Our Political System
Another $1.4 million was just dumped into the coffers of Idahoans for Open Primaries from ‘out-of-state philanthropists’ in their quest to pass Proposition 1 in Idaho. This blows up their percentage coming from out of state from 43% previously to over 67%.
Similar efforts are happening in Nevada, Oregon, Colorado, Montana and Arizona by the same group of philanthropists. And in Alaska, same group is spending millions trying to stop the repeal of their efforts.
As you can see from the chart and is obvious from the similar efforts happening simultaneously in other states, this is not an organic, state-level movement. This is a small group of wealthy individuals attempting to use the brute force of their pocketbooks to remake our political system according to their tastes.
This is a small group of wealthy individuals attempting to use the brute force of their pocketbooks to remake our political system according to their tastes.
The Million Dollar Club
We wrote earlier about the organizations involved, but let’s dig deeper into the largest individual contributors to these organizations. The following are just those who have donated over $1 million to the out-of-state PACs funding Prop 1.
Kathryn Murdoch is the daughter-in-law of Fox News Owner Rupert Murdoch. She is the wife of his son James Murdoch who was removed from the board at Fox due to his liberal politics. Kathryn is the co-chair and the largest donor of Unite America PAC, over $4 million just this year per FEC filings. Unite America PAC is the largest single funder of Proposition 1 in Idaho.
Murdoch has been pioneering investments in ‘political philanthropy’, encouraging other wealthy individuals to do the same. In this article, it details her political investment efforts which heavily favor Democratic candidates or candidates who oppose Donald Trump.
Marc Merrill has given over $2 million to Unite America PAC this year alone. Merrill is co-founder of Riot Games, makers of one of the most popular on-line computer games. Merrill co-wrote this article (paywall) with Kathryn Murdoch about how ‘philanthropy’ can fix our broken political system. Merrill also wrote this blog post in 2019 which details his perspective and acknowledges the irony of a ‘special interest’ effort attempting to change the political system.
David “Randy” Peeler is a board member with Unite America PAC. He donated nearly $2 million this year to the group. He is currently an investment advisor with Berkshire and served in the Treasury Department under the Clinton Administration.
Arthur Blank co-founded Home Depot and currently owns the Atlanta Falcons. This year, he donated $1 million to Unite America PAC. Blank has supported a number of Democrat causes and candidates and currently sits on the DEI committee for the NFL.
A Progressive Shade of Blue
While the Million Dollar Club and other major contributors to the Prop 1 PACs have overwhelmingly supported Democratic causes and candidates, Proposition 1 and Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) are not monolithic, partisan issues. Nevada is up against a very similar ballot measure as Prop 1, yet the Democratic Party there opposes it.
Secure Idaho Elections discussed the Nevada situation with a group that has been prominent in fighting their measure (which was on their ballot in 2022 as well as in 2024). Over $2 million was raised to fight the measure in 2022 and they said it came from groups aligned with the Democratic Party but not the party itself. Why? Because the Democratic Party did not want to upset the progressive wing of their party that endorsed the measure.
It seems the very same may describe Idaho as one prominent Democrat legislator has reportedly stated on a radio interview that RCV would be the death of the Democratic Party in Idaho. But engaging in the fight to stop Prop 1 wasn’t going to happen for the same reason - the progressives in the party want it.
So it seems the real issue is ideological more than partisan. That it is really a progressive matter is further bolstered by a white paper authored by Unite America PAC itself that includes this headline:
These ‘philanthropists’ are inspired by progressive history and the progressive approach to changing our political system. They are very consistent in their views on climate change and DEI and other hot button progressive topics. It does not seem to bother them at all that they are typically outspending opponents 10-1 and yet they claim they are saving democracy.
Obviously, Prop 1 is another case of more money 💰 than brains 🧠 . I desperately hope the brains 🧠 prevail! So many conservative (unpaid) volunteers are working to get the word out about how bad Prop 1 will be for Idaho.
Where’s Elon Musk when you need him? SIE — if you know anyone who knows or could Tweet Mr. Musk, please do it. Even if we could get him to make a public service announcement, think how massive that would be.