Right to Rise USA
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| Right to Rise USA | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Location: | Los Angeles, Calif. |
| Type: | Super PAC |
| Affiliation: | Republican |
| Founder(s): | Jeb Bush |
| Year founded: | 2015 |
| Website: | Official website |
Right to Rise USA is a super PAC that supported Republican Jeb Bush's 2016 presidential campaign. Bush had launched the super PAC in January 2015, six months before he announced his candidacy.
On February 20, 2016, Bush announced that he was suspending his campaign.[1] As of June 2017, the super PAC had not made any independent expenditures since Bush suspended his presidential campaign.
Background
In December 2014, Jeb Bush announced that he was launching a super PAC, stating, "The PAC’s purpose will be to support leaders, ideas and policies that will expand opportunity and prosperity for all Americans."[2] In January 2015, Charles Spies, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney, filed the paperwork for Right to Rise USA super PAC.[3] According to The Washington Post, Right to Rise acted as a holding are for staff and policy advisors until Bush announced his candidacy and established an official campaign.[4]
Prior to announcing his candidacy, Bush traveled the country to solicit contributions for the super PAC. In May 2015, Politico reported that Bush aimed to establish a "super PAC-centric setup" for his campaign, with the majority of funds being solicited for the super PAC and not the campaign itself.[5]
On February 20, 2016, Bush announced that he was suspending his campaign, and the super PAC ceased making independent expenditures.[1]
Work
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In August 2015, Right to Rise began to send out mailers in Iowa and Hew Hampshire; the super PAC sent out about 230,000 mailers to Iowa voters and 150,000 in New Hampshire. The mailers highlighted Bush's political career focusing on job creation, tax cuts and likened the former Florida governor to former President Ronald Reagan (R).[6] In September 2015, the super PAC paid out $24 million for ad buys in New Hampshire and Iowa; the ads focused on Bush's conservative spending, tax cuts and his stances on education. According to CNN, the super PAC spent $6 million in Iowa, $12 million in New Hampshire and $4.7 million in South Carolina.[7]
Marco Rubio ads
In January 2016, the super PAC began running ads critical of Marco Rubio (R), a decision that some super PAC donors, such as Barry Volpert, criticized. According to Politico, donors and GOP operatives believed that the "strategy might be doing nothing more than harming Rubio at precisely the moment the GOP could be rallying around an alternative to Trump or Cruz."[8][9]
Video player mailers
From the first days of Bush's campaign, the super PAC bean sending out of hundreds of video player mailers that included a 15-minute video on Bush; the cost of the video player, according to Right to Rise spokesman Paul Lindsay, was only "a few thousand dollars in total."[9][10]
Finances
2016
According to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission, Right to Rise reported $3,388,188 in total receipts and $58,599,379 in total disbursements during calendar year 2016.[11]
2015
According to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission, Right to Rise reported $118,307,035 in total receipts and $70,222,940 in total disbursements during calendar year 2015.[12]
Legal status
Right to Rise USA is a super PAC. A super PAC is a political committee that can solicit and spend unlimited sums of money. A super PAC cannot contribute directly to a politician or political party, but it can spend independently to campaign for or against political figures. These committees are also called independent expenditure-only committees. A super PAC is not legally considered a political action committee (PAC) and as such is regulated under separate rules.[13][14]
Media
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Right to Rise USA'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Jeb Bush
- Jeb Bush presidential campaign, 2016
- Super PAC
- Republican presidential election super PACs, 2016
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Washington Post, "Jeb Bush drops out of 2016 presidential campaign," February 20, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Jeb Bush forms PAC to explore presidential run," December 16, 2014
- ↑ FEC, "Statement of Organization, Right to Rise USA," accessed September 23, 2015
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Jeb Bush and his allies form leadership PAC and super PAC, both dubbed Right to Rise," January 6, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "Jeb Bush's $100M May," May 8, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "Jeb Bush super PAC floods Iowa, New Hampshire with campaign mailers," August 20, 2015
- ↑ CNN, "Jeb Bush super PAC drops $24 million on ads," September 15, 2105
- ↑ The New York Times, "Prominent Jeb Bush Donor Questions ‘Super PAC’ Strategist Over Negative Marco Rubio Ads," January 16, 2016
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Politico, "The Bush blame game begins," January 21, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Special delivery: A video message from fans of Jeb Bush," January 18, 2016
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Right to Rise USA Year-End Report, 2016," January 31, 2017
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Right to Rise USA Year-End Report, 2015," accessed February 2, 2016
- ↑ The Atlantic, "The New York Times' Disingenuous Campaign Against Citizens United," February 24, 2012
- ↑ The New York Times, "Who's Financing the 'Super PACs?" May 7, 2012
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