Left-wing billionaires are behind a grassroots operation attacking Republicans in the House of Representatives

Lower Costs California, Nebraska for Us and Michigan Families for Fair Care all have a bone to pick with Republicans: They are running attack ads against Republican lawmakers running for re-election in competitive races and promoting President Joe Biden’s agenda.

At first glance, the three groups appear to be distinct from one another, functioning as grassroots projects of engaged citizens in each state seeking to hold the powerful to account. In fact, they are one and the same group: they are merely the shady trade names of a recently formed nonprofit based in Wilmington, Delaware, according to corporate filings in Washington. That organization, called Unrig our Economy, is hardly a grassroots organization itself: Every cent of its publicly available funds—$5 million in Unrig Our Economy’s last fiscal year—comes from the Sixteen Thirty Fund, an influential Washington-based activist center funded by left-wing billionaires and managed by Arabella Advisors, the largest Democratic-aligned dark money network in the United States.

That the $1 billion consulting firm Arabella Advisors is closely tied to the state-run Unrig Our Economy provides a glimpse into how funders of Arabella’s offshoots discreetly work through complex tax codes to prop up self-styled grassroots groups that serve as Republican attack dogs during election season. Arabella’s offshoots, including the Sixteen Thirty Fund, sponsor hundreds of projects, collect anonymous checks and also establish groups that often become key figures in the world of left-progressive philanthropy.

The Sixteen Thirty Fund, which spent over $400 million in 2020 to support Democrats and oust former President Donald Trump, is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that is not required to disclose its donors. However, some public disclosures show that the Sixteen Thirty Fund’s top supporters in recent years have included companies linked to George Soros, Hansjörg Wyss, Pierre Omidyar, Mark Zuckerberg, and Mark Heising and his wife, Liz Simons.

“There is nothing local about these fake grassroots campaigns designed to confuse and mislead voters,” said Caitlin Sutherland, director of the conservative watchdog group Americans for Public Trust. APT, which claims Arabella’s offshoots violated their tax-exempt status by allegedly enriching Arabella’s founder, Eric Kessler, is linked to a right-wing network of groups formed by conservative activist Leonard A. Leo. Groups close to Arabella, in turn, have accused Leo of enriching himself through the network. Both networks deny any wrongdoing.

Unrig Our Economy, which was founded in 2022 as a merger of two Sixteen Thirty Fund projects called Tax March and Health Care Voter, said the Washington Examiner it “advocates for a fair tax code and an economy that works for everyone while holding corporations accountable for harming working Americans.” The Sixteen Thirty Fund awarded a $5 million grant in 2022 to Unrig Our Economy, whose president, longtime Democratic political activist Andrea Purse, is the former executive director of the Arabella-affiliated Hub Project, which, according to the New York Timesbegan Wyss.

And a year later, in 2023, Unrig Our Economy went on the offensive, creating pop-up groups to capitalize on its tax exemption and conduct its political work in several states under the manufactured banner of grassroots activism, company filings show.

There is Lower Costs California, “a group of engaged citizens who have a vision for a better and more affordable California for people from all walks of life.” There is Nebraska For Us, “a coalition of workers, farmers, grandparents, small business owners and everyone in between committed to a just Nebraska that works for us.”

And then there’s Michigan Families for Fair Care, which, according to its website, works to “elevate the voices of Michiganders and tell the stories of our families, friends and neighbors who want a better, healthier future for their families and communities.”

The initiatives backed by the Sixteen Thirty Fund recently launched multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns targeting House Republicans ahead of the 2024 elections, according to press releases and Facebook’s ad spending database. Many of the ads feature people touting themselves as residents of California, Nebraska and Michigan, but do not appear to mention Unrig Our Economy or its Washington, D.C.-based backer, the Sixteen Thirty Fund.

Lower Costs California ran ads between January and June against Republican Rep. Ken Calvert (CA), who faces tough competition from Democrat Will Rollins. Nebraska for Us is actively campaigning accusing Republican Rep. Don Bacon (NE), who is running against Democrat Tony Vargas, of wanting to cut Medicare and raise the retirement age. And Michigan Families for Fair Care launched a “12-week, seven-figure paid media advertising campaign” earlier this year criticizing Republican Rep. John James (MI) for a congressional vote that the group says would increase health care costs.

“Michigan Families for Fair Care is a 501(c)(4) advocacy campaign dedicated to educating residents of Michigan’s 10th Congressional District about important economic issues and the impact of Congressman John James’s votes in Congress,” Michigan Families for Fair Care said this year when announcing a commercial titled “Can’t Afford It,” which features “Alex, a carpenter from Mount Clemens who owns a construction company and knows what it’s like to barely be able to afford health insurance.”

For CEO Jeff Clements of American Promise, a group that advocates for limiting certain spending in elections, the campaign led by Unrig Our Economy is notable because out-of-state resources often have a major impact on the outcome of elections. While legal, the lack of transparency in Unrig Our Economy’s case is unlikely to inform voters about who might influence their candidate selection, Clements said.

“Tactics like these from fake grassroots groups are why voters are fed up with a political system that is overly nationalized, in the pockets of wealthy elites, and fails to address the issues that matter to their voters,” Clements said.

The Sixteen Thirty Fund and other groups managed by Arabella have been involved in similar political operations in the past, masquerading as grassroots movements. New York Times reported in 2022 that in 2020, the Sixteen Thirty Fund was the primary backer of Piedmont Rising, which ran ads designed to appear as news reports on a website called the North Carolina Examiner attacking Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC).

In addition, in recent years, Arabella groups have helped fund a Democratic-run political organization called Courier Newsroom, which is behind partisan “local news” websites across the country. Open secrets reported in 2020.

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In 2018, the Sixteen Thirty Fund used grassroots trade names in Florida, Michigan and North Carolina to fund attack ads against House Republicans in swing states. Politico reported.

The Sixteen Thirty Fund did not respond to a request for comment. Unrig Our Economy declined to comment on its ties to the Sixteen Thirty Fund.