For Immediate Release: Wednesday, September 10, 2024
Contact: David Armiak, Research Director, david@prwatch.org
The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) filed complaints today with the Internal Revenue Service and the Minnesota attorney general’s office requesting investigations into improper partisan and electoral activity by American Majority, a tax-exempt group that trains Republican candidates and party organizations on how to win elections.
The violations of federal and state tax and campaign finance laws alleged and documented in the complaints carry substantial potential penalties and a bar on further operation in the state of Minnesota.
As detailed in the complaints, American Majority — founded and run by Republican political operatives — has spent millions of dollars to build a “farm team” of “conservative” leaders to beat “the Left,” despite being registered with the IRS and the state of Minnesota as a nonpartisan charitable organization.
“The Progressive Left is set on flipping states that have been reliably ‘red’ into liberal-leaning ‘blue’ states. We fight it. Every single day,” reads the group’s website.
American Majority has trained more than 23,500 leaders between 2017 and 2022, according to its tax filings, and frequently boasts about its win rate and the number of trainees who have won elections. It currently has active state offices in Arizona, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
“American Majority is running a multimillion dollar campaign to get Republicans elected while masquerading as a nonpartisan charitable organization,” said Arn Pearson, CMD’s executive director.
American Majority’s Minnesota Operation
The group’s Minnesota operation provides a prime example of how it works under the cover of its tax-exempt status to build the Republican Party and get Republicans elected.
Jennifer DeJournett, director of American Majority Minnesota since 2017, is a self-described “well-known Republican political operative” who has worked on a number of campaigns for GOP candidates, including while directing American Majority.
Under DeJournett’s leadership, American Majority has held more than 20 trainings so far this year for Republican leaders, candidates, and party organizations, including four “Candidate Schools” and multiple “Ballots Out, Ballots In” sessions on how to use early and absentee voting to beat the Left and “win races up and down the ballot.”
As part of its complaint, CMD provided the Minnesota attorney general’s office with an audio recording of one such training held in June 2023 for the Senate District 49 Republicans, an official party unit.
“We are not encouraging or reminding or giving any information to our opponent’s supporters, somebody else can do that. Right?” DeJournett said at the training. “People that are hard-leaning Republicans who have a known history of struggling to return their ballot…we all got to help those voters.”
DeJournett also provided two similar training sessions in 2023 and 2024 for the Republican Seniors of Minnesota.
“Our will to win has to be greater than the other side. There are candidates who need your help,” she said during the 2023 event, before passing out volunteer recruitment forms branded as American Majority so people could sign up to make calls, knock on doors, or send postcards to help Republican candidates.
“Groups like American Majority are not allowed to spend a dime on elections or help a political party,” Pearson said. “Violating that rule is considered fatal to a group’s tax-exempt status and can result in the imposition of sizable excise taxes and penalties.”
Minnesota’s laws are even more problematic for American Majority. Candidate trainings are considered in-kind contributions, and corporations (including nonprofits) are barred from making campaign contributions. Knowingly violating that prohibition is a criminal offense, and if convicted, an organization forfeits the right to do business in the state.
Problematic Relationships
In addition to American Majority’s obvious activities to help build the Republican Party and get Republican candidates elected, the group’s functions and finances are deeply intertwined with its politically active 501(c)(4) sister organization, American Majority Action, and with a for-profit campaign management software company run by its CEO, longtime Republican operative Ned Ryun.
Both organizations are governed by the same board and led by Ryun, leaving American Majority wide open to charges that its allegedly tax-exempt activities are conducted for the benefit of its sister organization’s political operations. American Majority rents mailing lists to American Majority Action, pays Ryun’s company, Voter Gravity, for “data services,” and makes payments on behalf of both that are ostensibly later reimbursed.
American Majority’s most recent tax filings show that American Majority Action and Voter Gravity owed the tax-exempt group a combined total of almost $250,000 at the end of 2022.
“It certainly appears that American Majority is using tax-exempt funds to improperly subsidize Ryun’s nonprofit and for-profit political ventures,” Pearson said.
Failure to operate within the limitations imposed on 501(c)(3) organizations in return for their tax-exempt status is “fatal,” and the prohibition on political intervention is absolute. CMD’s complaints urge both the IRS and the Minnesota attorney general to investigate American Majority’s activities and take appropriate and timely action to enforce the law.
###
Leave a Reply