A small group of donors dominated these high-profile Pa. races during the 2024 election

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HARRISBURG — A handful of groups were responsible for the vast majority of donations and independent spending in high-profile Pennsylvania elections for positions that make critical decisions about public education funding, investing state savings, and more.

A Spotlight PA analysis of eight races — three for consequential row offices and five for state House seats critical to party control — found thousands of individuals and groups donated or independently spent roughly $60 million over the past two years to back or attack candidates.

Just nine groups were responsible for $38.3 million of that total — a whopping 63% of the donations and spending analyzed.

Political operatives that spoke with Spotlight PA called that number “mind-numbingly big.”

Commonwealth Leaders Fund, which is almost entirely funded by Pennsylvania billionaire Jeffrey Yass, topped the list. The political action committee donated over $13.4 million during this election cycle, contributing to almost every Republican candidate in the analysis.

Spotlight PA analyzed both direct donations to candidates and independent spending.

Individuals and PACs can donate unlimited cash to candidates, or they can make in-kind contributions of goods and services like sending out mailers.

Independent expenditures are made by groups that want to influence the outcome of an election, but are prohibited by law from donating directly to political candidates or coordinating with their campaigns. Unlike PACs that give to candidates, groups that spend independently are permitted to take cash from “dark money” organizations that don’t publicize their donors.

Spotlight PA’s analysis included all candidates who ran for attorney general, auditor general, and treasurer, as well as five state House seats that influenced control of the chamber. Four seats are located in the collar counties of Philadelphia and one is in rural Cambria County.

The far reach of Yass’ money

Money spent by two top PACs during this election cycle can be traced back to Yass, a major supporter of alternatives to public schools. The PACs contributed to nearly all Republican candidates included in Spotlight PA’s analysis.

Sam Chen, a Lehigh Valley-based Republican political operative, called Yass an “ideological donor” who expects a “return on his investment.” Chen added that the sheer volume of Yass money raises the bar for other candidates.

“The other candidates are thinking, ‘How do I combat that money?’” Chen said.

Commonwealth Leaders Fund donated over $13.4 million to six candidates. Most of that money went to support Republican Attorney General-elect Dave Sunday, who flipped political control of the office.

The other Yass-backed PAC, Commonwealth Children’s Choice Fund, contributed $1.2 million to Republican candidates for state treasurer and attorney general.

During this election cycle, Commonwealth Children’s Choice Fund also donated over $1.2 million to the Pennsylvania House Republican Campaign Committee and $640,000 to the Pennsylvania Senate Republican Campaign Committee — both of which support GOP legislative candidates.

It also donated $2.4 million to the Commonwealth Partners Chamber of Entrepreneurs, a free-market organization that operates two PACs that are among the most active in Pennsylvania’s pro-voucher movement.

The PACs in question have a tangled web of donors but nearly all the funds can be traced to Yass. Commonwealth Leaders Fund receives most of its money from Commonwealth Children’s Choice Fund, which in turn gets its money from another PAC: Students First.

Nearly all of Students First’s donations over the past two years — $34 million — came from Yass.

Democrats spend big to hold onto House

Another large tranche of donations and independent spending — just under $22 million — came from five party-aligned groups.

The Pennsylvania House Democratic Campaign Committee donated $10.3 million in an ultimately successful effort to keep party control of the chamber.

It gave state Rep. Frank Burns (D., Cambria), who held onto a seat in a Trump stronghold, $3.6 million. The PAC also spent more than $3 million on ads for state Rep. Brian Munroe (D., Bucks) and unsuccessful candidate Elizabeth Moro.

The state party spent more than $528,000 on the five state House races that Spotlight PA analyzed. Its biggest donation, about $177,000, was to Anna Payne, who unsuccessfully challenged state Rep. Joe Hogan (R., Bucks).

Outside groups’ significant footprint

Much of the donations and spending analyzed went toward winning the open seat for attorney general, one of the most powerful offices in the state.

In recent years, the attorney general has played a central role in deciding issues with national political stakes, most notably defending the commonwealth’s election laws, fighting attempts in 2020 to dispute President Joe Biden’s win in the state, and defending challenges to ballot access.

The Democratic Attorneys General Association’s PAC donated $2.7 million to Democratic candidate Eugene DePasquale, the state’s former auditor general. Some of the PAC’s contributions paid for research and polling.

The PAC receives sizable support from unions and from the Progressive State Leaders Committee, a dark money group that shares an address with DAGA.

Its GOP counterpart, the Republican Attorneys General Association, contributed three times that amount to Sunday through two committees it completely funds.

Keystone PAC donated around $700,000 directly to Sunday’s campaign, while Keystone Prosperity PAC made $7.7 million worth of independent expenditures, primarily TV ad buys.

The Republican Attorneys General Association is funded by a large network of conservative donors, according to data gathered by OpenSecrets. They include the Concord Fund and its predecessor, the Judicial Crisis Network, per Politico. The groups are associated with Federalist Society co-chair Leonard Leo, who advised President-elect Donald Trump and helped craft the current U.S. Supreme Court supermajority.

More independent spending

Two other groups independently spent more than $500,000 each on the races analyzed by Spotlight PA: Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania Victory Fund and Pennsylvania Fund for Change.

Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania Victory Fund made over $583,000 in independent expenditures — primarily to pay for canvassers and phone banking — to support Democratic candidates including DePasquale, Moro, Munroe, and Payne.

An associated PAC, Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania Action Fund, contributed $42,000 directly to Democratic candidates included in the analysis.

Pennsylvania Fund for Change spent just over $1 million on independent expenditures, primarily for TV ads and mailers to oppose the Republican candidates in the state House races included in Spotlight PA’s analysis.

It is funded by a coalition of left-leaning organizations, including Reproductive Freedom for All PAC, labor unions, and the National Education Association. Its largest donor is PA Alliance Action PAC, a Philadelphia-based dark money group.

Editor’s Note: Spotlight PA conducted this analysis using all 2023 and 2024 campaign finance reports available on the Pennsylvania Department of State’s website for 26 candidates. One of those candidates, Republican Craig Williams, ran for the GOP attorney general nomination and his state House seat at the same time; that state House race was one of the five analyzed.

Williams reported money for each race separately, but not all candidates who simultaneously ran for two positions included in this analysis did so. Additionally, the analysis included independent expenditures whose purpose was to support or attack multiple candidates including those both inside and outside the scope of the review.

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