Following the Money: The 1776 Project PAC's Connections to Right-Wing Groups and Far Right Activists
Following the Money: The 1776 Project PAC's Connections to Right-Wing Groups and Far Right Activists
The 1776 Project PAC, the political action committee spending millions to support right-wing school board candidates, has connections to right-wing groups and far right activists.
The 1776 Project PAC, the political action committee spending millions to support right-wing school board candidates, has connections to right-wing groups and far right activists. The committee has paid millions to conservative political consulting firms for advertising campaigns in support of the school board candidates, however, it remains unclear exactly how much campaign cash is funding the right-wing project to remake local school boards.
Ryan Girdusky, the founder of 1776 Project PAC, told Politico about the “shit-ton of work” required for the group’s strategy of targeting dozens of school district elections around the county. “I’m very conscious of the image of the PAC and the reputation. I don’t want it to seem like we’re supporting just any Republican,” Girdusky said.
Girdusky, who was former employed by the right-wing propaganda organization Project Veritas and previously worked for the political consultant firm Logan Circle Group, is among a cadre of New York young conservatives who are part of a generation of right-wing activists that often unironically flirt with White Nationalism.
In January 2017, the night before former president Donald Trump’s inauguration, Girdusky posed for photos with Peter Thiel (billionaire funder of the so-called New Right), Gavin McInnes (founder of the far right extremists Proud Boys), and Martin Shkreli (who would be convicted of securities fraud later that year).
In August 2019, Girdusky posed for a photo with Gavin Wax, the far right activist and president of the New York Young Republican Club. In June 2021, Pedro Gonzalez, a prominent right-wing influencer and supporter of Ron DeSantis who was recently reveled to have “sent a slew of nakedly antisemitic messages,” posted a photo of himself with Girdusky on Instagram.
Last month, Girdusky came to the defense of Nate Hochman, who was recently fired from the Ron DeSantis campaign “after retweeting a video that superimposed a Nazi symbol over DeSantis’ face,” posting on Twitter: “I know Nate Hochman, he’s not a Nazi.”
Aiden Buzzetti, the head of coalitions and candidate recruitment for the 1776 Project PAC, is also the president of the Bull Moose Project — a group with close ties to the far right New York Young Republicans Club.
The 1776 Project PAC has endorsed at least 40 school board candidates that were also endorsed by county chapters of Moms for Liberty, the network of right-wing activists with connections to far right extremists. At least 15 of those candidates were elected and currently serving as member of school boards — all in school districts in Wisconsin.
In addition to endorsing and supporting school board candidates endorsed by Moms for Liberty, the 1776 Project PAC has also provide direct financial support for Moms for Liberty.
The 1776 Project PAC reported a $249 payment to Moms for Liberty for the “national summit event” in June. The 1776 Project PAC also reported a $5,000 donation to the Charleston County, South Carolina chapter of Moms for Liberty in January ahead of the Charleston school board elections in February — five of the eight candidates endorsed by the Charleston County chapter were elected.
The Moms for Liberty PAC, the group’s political action committee, reported $117,454 in contributions and $107,326 in expenditures (the majority of this spending has been on fundraising expenses such as renting donor contact list), according to campaign finance records.
Since 2022, the 1776 Project PAC has received more than $4.2 million in campaign contributions, according to campaign finance reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission (FEC). During that time period, the 1776 Project PAC reported just over $4 million in expenditures, and the committee has $277,268 cash on hand, according to the most recently submitted campaign finance report.
Treasurer of the 1776 Project PAC is Nancy Marks — the same GOP operative involved in the George Santos campaign finance scandal.
The Restoration PAC, the political action committee funded by the billionaire GOP mega-donor Richard Uihlein, made the single largest contribution ($900,000) to the 1776 Project PAC.
Since 2022, Euporie LLC, a corporation registered in Sterling, Virginia, has received $321,599 payments for “strategic consulting” and “fundraising consulting" from the 1776 Project PAC. Girdusky and Buzzetti both listed Euporie LLC has their employer when making campaign contributions to WINRED, according to campaign finance records.
Euporie LLC has also received $195,000 in payments from Protect Ohio Values PAC, a a single-candidate committee supporting Republican J.D. Vance’s senate campaign. Additionally, Euporie LLC has also received $9,000 in payments from Free Ohio PAC, and $4,500 in payments from Republican congressional candidate Nicole Hasso’s campaign committee, according to campaign finance records.
The 1776 Project PAC “spent more than $13,000 backing conservative candidates” in April’s school board elections in Illinois, and the committee belatedly registed with the state election agency and reported approximately $2,000 in expenditures in support of 18 candidates, according to reporting by the Chicago Tribune.
Logan Circle Group, was paid more than $1 million by the 1776 Project PAC for “voter outreach services” and “digital adverting.” The Logan Circle Group touted the company’s relationship with the 1776 Project PAC, boasting the the company was an “important part of the 1776 Project PAC’s success in the 2021 elections.”
The Logan Circle Group has disclosed $2.2 million in independent expenditures in elections from 2021 to 2023 in states including Arizona, Maine, Virginia, and Wisconsin. During this year’s Wisconsin school board elections, Logan Circle Group reporting spending $10,213 on behalf of the 1776 Project PAC in support of 49 candidate, according to data from OpenSecrets.
Tracking exactly how much money the 1776 Project PAC is spending in the various local school board elections is difficult due to differences in campaign finance regulations and disclosure laws in each state. However, campaign material supporting right-wing school board candidates paid for by the 1776 Project PAC has appeared in several states, often making claims of about the “indoctrination” of students in public schools.
In Wisconsin, flyers supporting Deb Suchla and Scott Neumeister for La Crosse School Board were sent “without approval from either candidate by the 1776 Project PAC.” In northwestern Arkansas, flyers “supporting five candidates for Bentonville School Board,” and the flyers claimed the “the Bentonville School District wants to indoctrinate children.” In several counties outside Atlanta, Georgia, flyers discussed “critical race theory, obscene books in schools and transgender students, while urging residents to vote in school board elections.”
All of this just makes me incredibly sick, and we're not even close to the election yet. :(
Project Veritas, the group whose members plead guilty to stealing the private diary of a political candidates relative, now meddling in our public school system. All so corrupt.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/25/politics/ashley-biden-journal-project-veritas-guilty-plea/index.html