Unite the Country

  • Founded: 2019
  • Location: Washington, D.C.
  • Type: single-candidate Super PAC
  • Political leaning: Democratic Party [ [pro-Joe Biden]
  • Chair: Mark Doyle, former aide to Biden and founder of Rags of Honor
  • Revenue (Receipts, as of 2020-06): $24.2 million
  • Expenses (Disbursements, as of 2020-06): $18.3 million
  • Ballotpedia.org entry
  • Website: UniteTheCountry.com

    SOURCE:  FactCheck.org, captured 2020-09-22
    This page last modified: 2020-09-22 13:16:48 -0700 (PST)

    Unite the Country is a new, single-candidate super PAC that supports former Vice President Joe Biden. Unite the Country was started by former Biden aides to help promote his 2020 presidential candidacy.

    Although the super PAC was established on April 10, 2019, it did not become active until six months later. During this time period, the inactive group existed under the name For The People.

    A video on the super PAC's website features Biden speaking about the need to "restore our backbone."

    "We can unite this country," Biden says, echoing the group's title. "Folks this is the United States of America. Stand up. Take it back. We can, in fact, do anything we set our mind to. This is the United States of America."

    Unite the Country is run by top Democratic strategists as well as those who had worked on Biden's unsuccessful past presidential campaigns and his successful campaigns as Barack Obama's vice presidential candidate.

    Unite the Country's board will be chaired by Mark Doyle, a nonprofit CEO who worked on Biden's failed 2008 presidential campaign, and fellow Biden alumnus John MacNeil will serve as secretary, according to CNN. Larry Rasky, who is listed as the PAC's treasurer, previously worked on Biden's 1988 and 2008 presidential bids.

    Steve Schale, a Unite the Country strategist, was a top campaign official in Florida for the Obama-Biden ticket in 2008 and 2012. He "played a role with an organization that sought to draft Biden into the 2016 race," according to NBC News. But Biden declined to run at that time.

    Biden, who once opposed support from single-candidate PACs, reversed his position on outside money last October, quickly leading to the formation of Unite the Country. This came just "weeks after Biden reported having $8.98 million on hand -- a figure far outmatched by rivals like South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren," according to CNN.

    As of April 17 2020, the group had spent nearly $13.5 million on independent expenditures, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, which based its analysis on Federal Election Commission data. FEC defines independent expenditures as advertising that "expressly advocates" for the election or defeat of a specific candidate.

    So far, Reid Hoffman, a venture capitalist [co-founder and executive chairman of LinkedIn], has donated $1.5 million to the group, making him its largest donor, FEC records show. Other top donors include George M. Marcus, a San Francisco real estate mogul, Yaron Minsky, head of the tech group Jane Street [<< ?], and Richard C. Blum, an investment banker and husband to Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Marcus, Minsky and Blum each contributed $1 million.


    Unite the Country

    SOURCE:  Ballotpedia.org, captured 2020-09-22
    This page last modified: 2020-09-22 13:16:48 -0700 (PST)

    Mission

    As of June 2020, Unite the Country's website featured the following mission:[3]

    Leadership

    Unite the Country announced its leadership team on October 30, 2019.

    Board

    Professional team


    Additional Reading

    [2020-09-22]  Top presidential super PACs boosted by "dark money" donations

  • [2020-07-16]  Sixteen Thirty Fund: Influential 'dark money' network steers millions to pro-Biden super PACs

  • [2020-05-27]:  Outside groups help Biden close the digital ad gap with Trump on Facebook


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