Senate Leadership Fund
| Senate Leadership Fund | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Location: | Warrenton, Virginia |
| Type: | Super PAC |
| Affiliation: | Republican |
| Top official: | Cory Gardner, Chairman |
| Year founded: | 2015 |
| Website: | Official website |
The Senate Leadership Fund is a super PAC that was founded to support a Republican majority in the United States Senate. As of August 2025, the group's website described it as "the only outside organization solely dedicated to protecting and expanding the Republican Senate Majority."[1]
Background
The Senate Leadership Fund was established in January 2015 by supporters of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.]) in order to maintain a Republican majority in the United States Senate. When it was founded, the group began to work closely with American Crossroads, a conservative super PAC.[2]
Leadership
As of August 2025, the following individuals held leadership positions at Senate Leadership Fund:[3]
- Cory Gardner, Chairman
- Alex Latcham, Executive Director
Work and activities
Electoral activities and influence
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As a super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund can solicit and spend unlimited sums of money. The group cannot contribute directly to a politician or political party, but it can make independent expenditures to support or oppose political figures.[4][5]
2020 election cycle
In November 2020, Senate Leadership Fund launched Peachtree PAC, a super PAC focused on the January 5, 2021, U.S. Senate runoff elections in Georgia. CBS News reported that Peachtree PAC planned to spend $40 million toward the races. CBS also reported that the Senate Leadership Fund planned to spend $47 million toward the races.[6]
2018 election cycle
In April 2017, the Senate Leadership Fund began running ads against Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), criticizing her for her vote against President Donald Trump's (R) nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch. The ads targeted McCaskill, according to Politico, because of her re-election bid in 2018 in a state that Trump won by more than 18 percent in the 2016 presidential election.[7]
2017 Alabama special election
On May 8, 2017, the Senate Leadership Fund announced it had reserved $2.6 million for advertisements supporting Luther Strange in the special election to represent Alabama in the Senate. Strange was appointed to fill the vacancy left when Jeff Sessions was appointed as attorney general. The money was reserved for advertisements slated to appear between July 11 and August 15, 2017. According to Chris Pack, the organization's spokesperson, the spending was the first in a series of intended purchases supporting Strange. Pack said, "A lot of people in glass houses are throwing stones in Alabama, and they will quickly realize that this won't be going unanswered. This $2.65 million buy is just an initial down payment on Senate Leadership Fund's commitment to supporting Senator Strange."[8]
2016 election cycle
The Senate Leadership Fund dedicated $40 million in advertisements in June 2016 to support the following U.S. Senate candidates:[9]
- Joe Heck, Nevada
- Pat Toomey, Pennsylvania
- Rob Portman, Ohio
- Roy Blunt, Missouri
- Kelly Ayotte, New Hampshire
Notable endorsements
This section displays endorsements this organization made in elections within Ballotpedia's coverage scope.
Finances
As a super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund can solicit and spend unlimited sums of money. The group cannot contribute directly to a politician or political party, but it can make independent expenditures to support or oppose political figures.[4][5]
Finances
The following is a breakdown of the Senate Leadership Fund's receipts and disbursements from 2015 to 2024. The information comes from the Federal Election Commission
| Election Cycle | Receipts | Disbursements |
|---|---|---|
| 2015-2016 | $116.9 million | $114.2 million |
| 2017-2018 | $130.7 million | $127.3 million |
| 2019-2020 | $475.4 million | $476.4 million |
| 2021-2022 | $289.6 million | $290.9 million |
| 2023-2024 | $298.9 million | $296.6 million |
See also
External links
- Senate Leadership Fund official website
- Senate Leadership Fund on Facebook
- Senate Leadership Fund on X
- Senate Leadership Fund on Youtube
Footnotes
- ↑ Senate Leadership Fund, "About," accessed August 7, 2025
- ↑ The New York Times, "McConnell’s Allies Establish Fund to Keep Senate in G.O.P. Hands," January 20, 2015
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedabout - ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Atlantic, "The New York Times' Disingenuous Campaign Against Citizens United," February 24, 2012
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The New York Times, "Who's Financing the 'Super PACs'?" May 7, 2012
- ↑ CBS News, "'Everybody is looking up to Georgia right now': Early voting kicks off in Senate runoffs," December 16, 2020
- ↑ Politico, "Senate Democratic outside group launches radio ads defending McCaskill," April 18, 2017
- ↑ AL.com, "GOP super PAC plans $2.6 million in TV ads for Luther Strange," May 8, 2017
- ↑ Daily Caller, "Senate leadership reinforces battleground races with $40 million," June 28, 2016
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