The Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) brought in $5.3 million in contributions in the first three months of 2024, as its latest Internal Revenue Service (IRS) disclosure examined by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) shows. The amount raised is almost a million more than RAGA raised in the first quarter of 2020, the last major election cycle.
A $1 million contribution from The Concord Fund made Leonard Leo’s nonprofit funding vehicle (formerly registered as the Judicial Crisis Network) the top donor to RAGA, bringing the total it has donated to the Republican attorneys general group to $17.8 million since it was first registered with the IRS in 2014.
With a $1.6 billion trust fund from Barre Seid, Leo has injected right-wing groups with cash to fight sustainable investing, upend women’s healthcare rights, advance voter suppression policies, and shift the nation’s courts to the far right.
Since 2020, RAGA has paid Leo’s PR firm Creative Response Concepts (doing business as CRC Advisors) $7,500 per month for “consulting,” according to CMD’s analysis of RAGA’s IRS filings.
Koch Industries and U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform contributed $250,000 each, making them the second largest RAGA donors in the first quarter. Charles Koch’s conglomerate and the U.S. Chamber’s legal arm have consistently ranked among the top donors to RAGA over the years.
The companies General Motors, Upbound/Rent-A-Center, and Wal-Mart Stores; the fossil fuel industry’s largest trade association, the American Petroleum Institute; and hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer all gave $125,000 each, the next largest contribution amount.
This early in the election year, RAGA only made two political contributions in the first three months of 2024: $1 million to And Justice for All PAC and $5,000 to Todd Rokita Election Committee.
The $1 million to And Justice for All PAC was used to fund a North Carolina campaign with TV ads and text messages urging Democrats there to back Durham County District Attorney Satana Deberry for state attorney general in the Democratic primary. In March, Deberry lost to U.S. Rep. Jeff Jackson (D-14), who will face off against Rep. Dan Bishop (R-8) in November in what is expected to be a very close race. In 2020, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein (D) beat Republican candidate Jim O’Neillby a mere 0.2 percentage points.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita (R) is widely expected to win reelection in November when he faces off against Destiny Scott Wells (D) or Beth White (D). In Indiana attorney general candidates are nominated at party conventions, so Democrats will choose their candidate at their state convention on July 15.
In conjunction with its 501(c)(4) affiliate Rule of Law Defense Fund (RLDF) and its 501(c)(3) affiliate Center for Law and Policy, RAGA runs a cash-for-influence operation that coordinates the official actions of Republican state attorneys general and sells its corporate funders access to them and their staff.
This article has been updated to reflect that the filings reviewed are from the Internal Revenue Service, not the Federal Election Commission.
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