Political leanings:

Spending target: Unknown

Make America Number 1 is a super PAC that formed to oppose Hillary Clinton’s candidacy for president in June 2016.

On its web site, the group says its goal is “to make clear to the American voter the full extent of the untrustworthiness of Hillary Rodham Clinton (HRC) by focusing on the corruption of the Clinton Machine and especially the corruption of the Clinton Foundation.”

The PAC, which also goes by the name Defeat Crooked Hillary, was initially founded as Keep the Promise I, and it raised more than $19 million, mostly from conservative mega-donor Robert Mercer, to support Sen. Ted Cruz during the Republican primary.

According to Time, “The super PAC was originally started as a way for donors who backed Republican nominee Donald Trump’s rivals during the primaries to have a sway of the general election.”

In addition, Bloomberg reported that the PAC has been seen by some donors as a way to oppose Clinton without having to formally support Donald Trump.

Since its inception, the group has spent more than $3 million on broadcast ads and other media largely focused on attacking Hillary Clinton.

The PAC was founded by veteran political operative and Mercer family confidante David Bossie, who in September left the organization to join the Trump campaign as its deputy campaign manager. The Washington Post reported that Bossie also stepped down from his role as president of Citizens United, a conservative advocacy group best known for being the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which struck down many of the regulations limiting corporate and union contributions to campaigns. However, as of October 2016, Citizens United’s website still lists him as the organization’s president.

Rebekah Mercer, daughter of Robert Mercer and chairman of the Citizens United super PAC since it was founded as Keep the Promise, has taken over as the day-to-day operations manager of the group since Bossie’s departure. Mercer had reportedly previously worked with Trump’s now-campaign manager Steve Bannon to fund a movie for “Clinton Cash,” a book that investigated foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation. The Mercer family also reportedly donated $10 million to Breitbart, a conservative, pro-Trump news website, in 2011.

In August, the group also hired former Mike Huckabee spokesman and communications adviser Hogan Gidley to be its communications director. In the past, Gidley served as communications director on Rick Santorum’s 2012 presidential campaign and as executive director for Huckabee’s Huck PAC.

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Spending target: Unknown

Future45 says that it is an “independent organization devoted to educating voters about the challenges facing our country as they prepare to elect the 45th President of the United States.”

The super PAC was formed in March 2015 to target former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who received the Democratic nomination for president in July 2016. Its earliest donors were hedge fund billionaires Kenneth Griffin and Paul Singer, GOP megadonors who contributed $250,000 apiece. Investor William Powers also gave $100,000, and Linda McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment and two-time Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, contributed $200,000 to the group.

But the super PAC was inactive for months after spending more than $3.3 million on advertising through February 2016. It relaunched in September with financial support from the families of GOP megadonors J. Joe Ricketts and Sheldon Adelson. An ad it aired that month, called “Crook,” compared Clinton to disgraced former President Richard Nixon.

As a super PAC, Future45’s fundraising is unlimited, but it must disclose its donors and cannot coordinate with campaigns. The 45Committee is its companion advocacy organization, focusing on “policies that promote jobs and economic opportunity for American families, strengthen national security, fix what’s broken in education, energy, immigration, health care and more,” according to its website.

As a 501(c)(4), the 45Committee can receive unlimited funds from donors, but does not have to disclose the sources of its funding. As Politico reported, that’s the pitch that Todd Ricketts, who has assumed control of both groups, is making to wealthy donors wanting to anonymously support Donald Trump, the controversial Republican presidential nominee.

Since it was formed, Future45 has raised almost $13.7 million, with $12.3 million of that being donated in September 2016, according to Federal Election Commission records. Adelson, who along with his wife, Miriam, gave the group $10 million that month, has reportedly donated as much as $25 million since then.

TD Ameritrade founder J. Joe Ricketts, whose wife, Marlene, spent money opposing Trump during the Republican primaries, has donated at least $1 million to the super PAC.

To date, Future45 has spent almost $9.4 million on ads targeting Clinton, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. For its part, the 45Committee has spent at least $7.3 million on ads opposing Clinton or supporting Trump, according to CRP data.

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Political leanings:

Spending target: Unknown

Rebuilding America Now is a super PAC founded in June 2016 to support Donald Trump against Hillary Clinton in the general election for president.

According to the New York Times, “The main focus of the group will be countering the effect of a $90 million advertising offensive planned by Priorities USA Action, the super PAC backing Hillary Clinton.” As a super PAC, Rebuilding America Now can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money provided it publicly reports its donations and expenditures.

As of June 8, it had declared to the Federal Elections Commission that it had spent more than $1 million opposing Hillary Clinton. The group also claimed on June 2 to have secured $32 million in contribution commitments from about four donors.

Tom Barrack, a real estate investor and longtime friend of Trump’s, has assisted the PAC with fundraising, though he told CNN that he would have no formal role with the group. Barrack is also “close personal friends” with Trump’s campaign chairman and chief strategist, Paul Manafort, according to a bio provided to the Associated Press by Barrack’s publicist. Barrack recently hosted a large fundraiser for the candidate.

According to CNN, Barrack said that the “principal operatives” running the group will be Laurance Gay, an ally of Manafort, who will serve as managing director, and Ken McKay, a senior advisor to the Trump campaign and Chris Christie’s former campaign manager.

Ryan Call, Rebuilding America Now’s treasurer, is an attorney at Hale Westfall, LLP. He served as Colorado Republican State Chairman from 2011 to 2015.

Christopher Marston is listed as Rebuilding America Now’s Custodian of Records in its FEC filing. A veteran Republican campaign operative and founder of the campaign finance and compliance firm Election CFO, he is listed as the treasurer on record, for about 60 campaign committees, political action committees and other groups since 2012, including almost 40 that are active in the 2016 cycle. As we noted in April, included among these was the anti-Trump PAC Make America Awesome.

Former Romney advisor and CNN contributor Alex Castellanos will also work for the PAC. According to the New York Times, his role will be to “cut advertisements and work on strategy” for the PAC. His hiring is notable because he tried to organize an anti-Trump super PAC as recently as late 2015.

On June 5, the PAC posted its first ad, titled “Hillary Clinton: More of the Same,” onto YouTube and aired it during “Meet the Press.”  Already viewed over 200,000 times, the 30-second video splices together comments Hillary Clinton made about her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State with Bill Clinton’s infamous denial of having sexual relations with then-White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On June 7, the New York Times noted that the PAC had reserved about $1.1 million in advertising time on “national cable outlets.”

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Spending target: Unknown

The Crossroads “twins” are affiliated conservative advocacy groups that rank among the biggest outside players influencing national and state elections. Ed Gillespie, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, and Karl Rove, who served as senior adviser to President George W. Bush, were instrumental in helping to launch American Crossroads in 2010. They “encouraged the formation” of American Crossroads and served as “informal advisers” and fundraisers, the group’s then-spokesman, Jonathan Collegio, told us at the time. Crossroads Grassroots Political Strategies (Crossroads GPS) was formed as an affiliated organization in June 2010.

American Crossroads is a super PAC, allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts provided all donations and expenditures are reported publicly. Crossroads GPS, a 501(c)(4), does not have to disclose any information about who gives to it. The group was formed, according to Carl Forti, political director for American Crossroads, because “some donors didn’t want to be disclosed” and were “more comfortable” giving to an entity that keeps donors’ names secret. However, it still must disclose any spending advocating for or against a candidate.

According to its most recent Form 990, filed in 2015, Crossroads GPS received almost $72 million in contributions and grants from 80 donors during the 2014 cycle. Twelve contributors gave over $1 million each, including one donation of $20.6 million. ProPublica’s analysis of the group’s 2012 tax returns found 50 anonymous contributions of more than $1 million, including one of $22.5 million. The group’s 2015 financial information is unlikely to be available until the fall, when it is has traditionally filed its Form 990.

During the 2014 election cycle, the Crossroads groups together spent over $47.8 million on independent expenditures, the fourth most among outside spending groups. They spent most of that money targeting then-Sens. Mark Udall of Colorado, Mark Begich of Alaska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. Each of them went on to lose their race for re-election. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Crossroads had a high success rate in 2014; more than 82 percent of its money was spent on races where candidates supported by Crossroads won or candidates opposed by Crossroads lost.

The chairman of American Crossroads is Jo Ann Davidson, a former Ohio state legislator who served as co-chair of the Republican National Committee from 2005 to 2009. Its president and chief executive officer is Steven Law, a former deputy secretary of labor in the administration of George W. Bush. Law also served as general counsel to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and is the president of Crossroads GPS. The biographies of Davidson, Law and other top staffers can be found on the group’s website.

We don’t know how much the sister groups plan to spend on the presidential and congressional elections this cycle. Law, in a May 2015 interview with the New York Times, said that the goal is “to win the White House and hold the Senate and the House” for Republicans.

As of March 31, American Crossroads had received more than $3.2 million in individual contributions, according to the Federal Election Commission. Of that amount, $1 million was donated in two $500,000 contributions by Warren A. Stephens, chairman, president and CEO of the financial services firm Stephens Inc. And, so far, the PAC has spent just about $124,000 on independent expenditures. That sum includes more than $50,000 to Targeted Victory on Jan. 17 for an online ad campaign in Iowa attacking Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton for having ties to Wall Street.

During the 2012 election cycle, American Crossroads spent close to $105 million on independent expenditures and other communication costs, including over $90 million on ads supporting Mitt Romney and attacking President Obama. For its part, Crossroads GPS spent almost $189 million in 2012, according to its 2013 Form 990.

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Political Leanings: Republican/Anti-Trump Super PAC

Spending Target: Unknown

Make America Awesome was formed in December 2015 in opposition to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

As of April 1, the super PAC has spent almost $19,000 opposing Trump, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The majority of that has gone toward radio ads in Indiana, New Hampshire, Maryland and Florida.

The super PAC’s founder, Liz Mair, is a Republican communications operative and strategist who served as the Republican National Committee’s online communications director during the 2008 campaign. Mair, who founded the communications and public relations firm Mair Strategies, has consulted in the past for Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry. In addition, she advised Carly Fiorina’s 2010 U.S. Senate bid in California, and was briefly hired to direct online communications for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s presidential super PAC, Our American Revival, before resigning after she tweeted statements critical of the Iowa caucus.

Christopher M. Marston, who is listed as Make America Awesome’s treasurer, is a veteran Republican consultant who founded Election CFO, a campaign finance and compliance firm. Through Election CFO, Marston has served as the treasurer on record for more than 50 campaign committees, political action committees and other groups since 2012, including almost 40 that are active in the 2016 cycle. Notably, he has worked for One Vote, which supported Dr. Ben Carson’s presidential campaign; the Red White and Blue Fund, which backed former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum’s campaign in 2012; and the issue advocacy group American Future Fund. Marston also held top positions in the administration of President George W. Bush, as assistant secretary for management at the Education Department and chief of staff at the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Make America Awesome says its mission is “blocking and reversing Donald Trump’s political ascent” by “using unconventional and cost-effective tactics.” So far, this has taken the form of highly targeted radio, television and social media ads, some of which have garnered media attention for controversial content. In March, the group released a series of ads on Facebook and Instagram targeted at Mormon women in Utah before that state’s Republican caucus on March 22 (which Sen. Ted Cruz won). One of those ads featured a provocative image of Trump’s wife, Melania. Trump, without evidence, falsely accused Cruz’s campaign of buying the rights to the photo and giving it to the super PAC to use in its ads. The photographer who took the photo, Antoine Verglas, told FactCheck.org that no one contacted him to buy the rights.

In its brief existence, Make America Awesome has not raised a large sum of money. As of its last filing with the Federal Election Commission in February, the PAC had raised just under $21,000. Of that amount, 70 percent came from unitemized donations, or individual donations totaling less than $200. The largest individual donations — $1,000 — came from Donald Gayhardt, the president and CEO of Speedy Group Holdings, who has contributed to both Democratic and Republican campaigns and PACs, and Donald Sherwood, a former U.S. representative from Pennsylvania, who regularly donates to Republicans.

In a piece republished by the Huffington Post, Mair, the PAC’s founder, wrote that “we operate with a mid-five-figure budget, not a seven-figure budget, but we’re very strategic, targeted, scrappy, and punch well above our weight.”

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Political Leanings: Republican/Anti-Trump Super PAC

Spending Target: Unknown

Our Principles PAC was formed in January 2016 to thwart Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Its founder, Katie Packer, is a veteran Republican strategist who was the deputy campaign manager of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. She founded Burning Glass Consulting, a firm whose goal is to attract female voters, and is a founding partner of WWP Strategies, a political consulting and issue management firm based in Washington, D.C.

Our Principles PAC hired former Jeb Bush campaign spokesman Tim Miller as its communications adviser. Miller was previously executive director of America Rising, a Republican organization formed to conduct opposition research on Democrats. Jamie Jodoin, a political accounting specialist at Robert Watkins & Company, serves as the super PAC’s treasurer. Hewlett Packard Enterprise President and CEO Meg Whitman, who served as finance co-chair of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s presidential campaign, has helped the super PAC with fundraising. 

On Feb. 22, Packer released a memo outlining the PAC’s strategy “to prevent Donald Trump from hijacking our great Party.” As of March 8, the PAC had spent $4.4 million on independent expenditures, including TV ads, voter guides and mailers targeting Trump, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

As of Jan. 31, Our Principles PAC raised more than $3 million from individual donors, according to its February report filed with the Federal Election Commission. Almost all of its funding came from Marlene Ricketts, co-owner of the Chicago Cubs baseball franchise, wife of billionaire T.D. Ameritrade founder J. Joe Ricketts, and mother of both Republican Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts and Todd Ricketts

Marlene Ricketts was a top contributor to Unintimidated PAC, a super PAC that supported Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s failed 2016 presidential bid. She also has been a major funder of the fiscally conservative Ending Spending Action Fund, which was founded by her husband, Joe, and is run by her son, Todd. And, in 2015, Ricketts also gave $10,000 each to super PACs backing the presidential campaigns of Bush and Christie, as well as former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

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Spending target: Unknown

Keep the Promise is a network of five independent super PACs supporting Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz. Three of the super PACs are primarily funded by multi-million dollar donations from an individual or family, and a fourth is funded mostly by smaller donors. Politico reported that the PACs were set up this way “to cater to the different big donors funding them.”

Keep the Promise I was formed with an $11 million donation from Robert Mercer, a hedge fund magnate who began his career at IBM. Over the years, Mercer has donated to several prominent conservative political action committees, including Concerned Taxpayers for America, Club for Growth Action and American Crossroads. Mercer’s daughter, Rebekah, hosted a fundraiser for Cruz in 2015.

Keep the Promise II is supported by a $10 million donation from Quantum Energy Partners co-founder Toby Neugebauer. For years, Neugebauer has contributed to the National Republican Congressional Committee and Republican candidates for Congress. His father, Randy Neugebauer, a Republican, is the U.S. representative for the 19th District in Texas.

Keep the Promise III received almost all of its $16 million in contributions from members of the Wilks family. Farris and Daniel Wilks profited extensively from the fracking boom in West Texas. In 2011, they sold their share of the company, Frac Tech, for $3.5 billion, making the Wilks brothers two of the richest men in Texas. Daniel and his wife, Staci, contributed $5 million to the super PAC, and Farris and his wife, JoAnn, contributed $10 million.

Another group, Keep the Promise PAC, has received smaller amounts from donors and focuses on media and online campaign efforts. As of Jan. 31, 2016, it took in about $3.7 million, and its largest donors were Richard Uihlein, chief executive officer of Uline, and Robert McNair, the founder, chairman and CEO of the Houston Texans of the National Football League.

A fifth super PAC, Keep the Promise to Veterans, registered with the Federal Election Commission on Feb. 11, 2016. It has been linked to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who endorsed Cruz after ending his own presidential campaign. The treasurer of the PAC is Kathy Walt, a former chief of staff to Perry. Walt said Perry, an Air Force veteran, wants to “make sure that veterans issues do not get lost in the discourse” of the 2016 presidential campaign.

Although the PACs collectively have received nearly $40 million in contributions since April 2015, they have spent a relatively small chunk of that money.

Keep the Promise I has spent the most — more than $9.4 million — on independent expenditures, or ads for or against a candidate, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The group has spent over $6.2 million on ads for Cruz and the rest on ads attacking Sen. Marco Rubio, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

However, Keep the Promise PAC and Keep the Promise III have spent just over $2 million, combined, on ads supporting Cruz. And Keep the Promise II has spent none of its $10 million on independent expenditures, as of March 3, 2016. That PAC reported spending just over $634,000, total, as of Dec. 31, 2015. Of that amount, $500,000 went to “campaign research services,” according to FEC records.

And even though the super PACs exist mainly to promote Cruz for president, at least one contributed to a rival candidate. In June 2015, Keep the Promise I transferred $500,000 to Carly for America, the super PAC for Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, who has since dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination for president.

At the time, Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway, acting as a spokeswoman for Mercer, who donated $11 million to the super PAC, told Bloomberg Politics that the group was still committed to Cruz but would also help others.

“It is a federal PAC that will offer support to other candidates for President and other offices, and will work with the affiliated PACs Keep the Promise II, III and Keep the Promise PAC, to promote Ted Cruz for President,” she told Bloomberg Politics.

Fact-checking Keep the Promise:

Cruz’s Record Before the Supreme Court, March 3, 2016

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Political leanings: Conservative

Spending target: Unknown

Club for Growth Action, the super PAC of the conservative Club for Growth, was launched in August 2010. It was created after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling, and it can raise unlimited amounts of money from individuals and corporations. On its website, the organization declares its mission to “take on any Member of Congress on policy who fails to uphold basic economic conservative principles…regardless of party.”

The group targets mostly Republicans in primaries and Democrats in general elections. In the 2014 election cycle, it raised more than $9.3 million and spent more than $7.8 million on independent expenditures. More than $3.1 million was spent in a failed attempt to unseat Republican Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi and elect tea party challenger Chris McDaniel.

Most of the super PAC’s money comes from wealthy Republican donors. Its largest donors in 2014 were Virginia James, an investor in New Jersey ($1.5 million); Robert Mercer, co-CEO of Renaissance Technologies (more than $1 million); private equity investor John Childs, the chairman of the Boston-based J.W. Childs Associates ($700,000); and Uline CEO Richard Uihlein ($700,000).

As of Feb. 25, 2016, Club for Growth Action had raised more than $3.9 million and spent $6.4 million on independent expenditures during the 2016 cycle. More than $2.5 million has been spent on ads against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. In September, we reported on an ad airing in Iowa from the PAC that inaccurately claimed that Trump “supports higher taxes.” We wrote about the ad again on Feb. 25, a day after it was rereleased by the group in Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Club for Growth Action also has spent $691,000 on ads against Russ Feingold, a former U.S. senator for Wisconsin who is running for that office again. We wrote about an ad falsely accusing Feingold of “robbing Social Security” in September.

Uihlein and Mercer, with $1 million and $250,000 contributions, respectively, are again among the top donors to Club for Growth Action in the 2016 cycle. Other major donors to the super PAC this time include ExOxEmis Inc. CEO Jackson Stephens Jr. and Stephens Inc. investment bank CEO Warren Stephens, who each gave $250,000.

Fact-checking Club for Growth Action:

Still Clubbing Trump on Taxes, Feb. 25

Club for Growth vs. Trump, Sept. 25, 2015

Social Security Bunk — Again, Sept. 24, 2015

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Political leanings:

Spending target: Unknown

The Stand for Truth super PAC was formed in November 2015 “to support conservative candidates like Senator Ted Cruz in their fight to bring the United States back to the principles and values that make America great,” according to its website. The group pledged to spend at least $4 million on TV ads promoting Cruz for president in early primary and caucus states.

Little was known about Stand for Truth’s funding until it filed its year-end report with the Federal Election Commission in January. The report showed that the group raised more than $2.4 million in 2015. The group’s most generous donors were Goldcrest Investments CEO Adam Ross and his wife, author Tara Ross, who each gave $500,000. It also received $150,000 from Research Affiliates chairman Rob Arnott and $100,000 from Michael Adams, a former Bechtel Group executive, who hosted a fundraiser for Cruz at his home in McLean, Virginia.

The super PAC also has received more than $1 million from corporations and limited liability companies. Those LLCs allow individuals “to set up shell companies that hide the owner’s true identity,” according to a Sunlight Foundation report. That makes it difficult to uncover who is giving money to the super PAC, which must disclose its donors.

As of Feb. 16, the group had spent over $5.2 million on ads — more than $2 million in support of Cruz, another $2 million attacking Marco Rubio on immigration and national security, and another $1 million attacking Donald Trump for not being sufficiently conservative.

Eric Lycan, a member of the Republican National Lawyers Association and former counsel to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s reelection campaign, is the super PAC’s attorney. He confirmed to CNN that Josh Robinson is the “main hand behind the super PAC” and Hal Lambert is another “leading force behind the group.”

Robinson is a former political director for the Republican Governors Association and the co-founder of political and media strategy firm RedPrint Strategy.

Lambert, who stepped down as Texas GOP finance chairman in early 2015 to join Cruz’s presidential campaign as its finance co-chair, is the founder of investment firm Bridge Point Capital. Lambert had previously contributed to Cruz’s 2012 Senate campaign, and he and his wife, Elaine, were early donors to Cruz’s presidential campaign.

Fact-checking Stand for Truth

Rubio’s Plan for ‘Sanctuary Cities,‘ Feb. 19, 2016

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Political Leanings: Republican/Pro-Ben Carson Super PAC

Spending Target: Unknown

Our Children’s Future is a super PAC supporting Republican presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

The PAC filed with the Federal Election Commission on April 30, 2015. Jeff Reeter, former campaign finance chairman for Carson, is its chairman. The group describes itself as focusing on “large-dollar fundraising,” but it reported raising only about $100,000 through Dec. 31, 2015.

Super PACs may solicit and spend unlimited amounts of money explicitly advocating for or against specific candidates, but they may not coordinate that spending with the candidates themselves.

On Oct. 22, 2015, Our Children’s Future and The 2016 Committee announced they would combine efforts to form “a unified, comprehensive strategy to increase voter education in early primary states through print, online and broadcast advertising as well as grassroots engagement.” According to the groups’ joint announcement, Our Children’s Future will retain its focus on “large-dollar” fundraising, while The 2016 Committee will continue to focus on small grassroots fundraising and advocacy. Currently, the two organizations remain separate entities.

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