New Report Finds John and Laura Arnold Use So-Called “Bipartisan” Group to Funnel Money to Liberal Political Organizations Working to Elect Democrats

The Fair Election Fund (FEF), a nonpartisan national election integrity watchdog group, today released a new report exposing how left-wing billionaires Laura and John Arnold, who call themselves “bipartisan” philanthropists, have quietly funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to liberal political organizations with one shared goal: electing Democrats and flipping Congress ahead of the 2026 midterms.

FEF has uncovered reports that the Arnolds have funneled over $1.2 million through affiliates like Action Now, Inc., a 501(c)(4) founded by the Arnolds and a part of Arnold Ventures, in 2025, the year President Trump began his second term.

Among the report’s findings:

• Arnold Ventures, through affiliates, gave $400,000 to FWD.us, which has functioned as a revolving door for Democratic elected officials attacking the President. Arnold-funded FWD.us hosted events exclusively featuring Democratic members of Congress, including appearances alongside House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Democratic Whip Katherine Clark.

• Arnold Ventures, through affiliates, gave nearly $240,000 to the Progressive State Leaders Committee, whose homepage declares “Progressive AGs are fighting the Trump administration’s illegal actions” and operates a tracker documenting the 124 lawsuits Democratic AGs have filed against the Trump administration.

• Arnold Ventures, through affiliates, gave $250,000 to EDF Action, which this cycle launched a six-figure ad campaign directly targeting three House Republicans for their votes on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, while honoring a Democratic congresswoman with a campaign award.

• Arnold Ventures, through affiliates, gave $100,000 to Take Action Minnesota, which is actively working to elect Democrats up and down the Minnesota ballot, including Rep. Ilhan Omar and U.S. Senate candidate Peggy Flanagan.

• Arnold Ventures, through affiliates, gave over $250,000 to Third Way, which its own president described as leading “an expansive and expensive plan” to shape the next presidential campaign, explicitly focused on “flipping red and purple places blue.”

BACKGROUND:

• FEF released a report earlier in August finding that the “bipartisan” Arnold philanthropists bankroll the fight against voter ID and the SAVE Act.
• FEF released a report in July uncovering how the Arnold Foundation secretly funneled $20M to the Democrat election machine.
• In June, FEF commended House Oversight Chairman Comer and the committee for investigating Norm Eisen’s pay-to-play scheme, calling it “deeply troubling.”
• In April, FEF called attention to a report revealing ActBlue potentially misled Congress on foreign donation vetting, corroborating FEF’s own 2024 findings of potential cases of donor fraud within ActBlue.
• Last year, FEF launched a report series grading election administration officials in battleground states across the U.S.
• In 2024, the Fair Election Fund launched an investigation examining the jury summons responses and voter rolls in key swing state counties to identify voter fraud.
• In August of 2024, the Fair Election Fund uncovered 60,000 potential cases of donor fraud involving the Biden-Harris campaign and ActBlue and turned over the data to Republican attorneys general across the country.

The Fair Election Fund is an election watchdog group that was formed to shine a light on fraud and abuse still occurring in our election system.