A George Soros-funded political action committee, which is boosting Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) in his reelection bid and has ties to a dark money group, has delivered thousands to a law firm run by Democratic superlawyer Marc Elias, filings show.
Black Voters Matter Action PAC has pumped in more than $141,600 on independent expenditures, mostly for video, radio, and vehicle ads, to support Warnock against Republican Herschel Walker. This same PAC has also spent over $26,400 between January and September with Elias Law Group, a Democratic law firm founded by Marc Elias — the attorney who was the general counsel for Hillary Clinton‘s 2016 presidential campaign.
Through Clinton’s campaign, Elias commissioned the discredited Steele dossier, an influential piece of opposition research that accused former President Donald Trump of colluding with Russia. The elections lawyer has represented many high-profile Democrats through the years and, at one point, was a lawyer for the national Black Lives Matter nonprofit group, whose leader is being accused of siphoning off $10 million.
WARNOCK BOOSTED BY SOROS-FUNDED PAC LINKED TO LIBERAL DARK MONEY GROUP, RECORDS SHOW
“It is not shocking that, despite Raphael Warnock swearing off corporate donations, he and Marc Elias are being boosted by thousands of dollars not only from corporate PACs but also from a Soros-funded group,” Danielle Repass, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Republican Party, told the Washington Examiner.
“Raphael Warnock is bad for Georgia, bad for America, and bad for democracy,” she said.
Warnock and Walker’s race is expected to be the most expensive out of all the midterm elections. Hundreds of millions of dollars have already poured into the race, and tensions remain high as Republicans seek to take back the Senate seat Warnock won from Republican businesswoman Kelly Loeffler in 2021.
In terms of independent expenditures this election cycle, outside groups have spent over $9.2 million supporting Warnock and over $25.7 million opposing him. Groups have spent over $29.2 million opposing Walker and over $6 million supporting him, filings show.
BVM PAC got off the ground in 2020. That same year, it received over $1.25 million from Democracy PAC, a liberal group Soros largely financed that he created to sway the 2020 presidential election.
In 2021, BVM PAC boosted Warnock and Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) in their successful special election runoffs. LaTosha Brown and Cliff Albright, BVM PAC’s co-founders, also co-founded the 501(c)(3) charity BVM Capacity Building Institute and its affiliated 501(c)(4) BVM Fund.
501(c)(4)’s are often dubbed “dark money” organizations because they do not legally have to report their donors to the IRS, even though BVM Fund disclosed 149 donors on its 2020 tax documents, the Washington Examiner first reported.
Both BVM nonprofit groups largely focus on election-related issues and voter mobilization and have received money from Soros through his Open Society Foundations network. An email address for BVM Fund is also listed as a contact on BVM PAC’s website.
This election cycle, BVM PAC has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars supporting Democrats with independent expenditures. Its highest disbursement was $100,000 on Nov. 4 to support Warnock with radio ads.
The 2022 payments to Elias Law Group come after BVM dished out over $25,700 to Perkins Coie between September 2020 and October 2021 for “legal services.” Elias was the head of political law until last year at Perkins Coie, a multinational law firm that reported a gross revenue of over $1.1 billion in 2021.
Elias has been involved prior with BVM groups. In March 2021, his firm filed a lawsuit on behalf of BVM Fund against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger over a Georgia elections law. One month later, Elias’s firm filed a lawsuit on behalf of the 501(c)(3) BVM charity against Florida over a redistricting plan.
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Warnock’s campaign did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
Elias Law Group, BVM PAC, and Perkins Coie also did not respond.