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The Democratic Coalition
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| The Democratic Coalition | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Location: | New York, New York |
| Type: | Super PAC |
| Founder(s): | Nathan Lerner and Scott Dworkin |
| Year founded: | 2016 |
| Website: | Official website |
| Super PACs |
|---|
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| Read more about super PACs and the super PACs covered on Ballotpedia. |
The Democratic Coalition is a super PAC that was founded in 2016 in opposition to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The super PAC, which began as Keep America Great PAC, is also known as the Democratic Coalition Against Trump.[1] The super PAC's founding chairman, Jon Cooper, was behind the effort to draft Joe Biden (D) for a presidential run in 2016.[2]
Mission
As of June 2017, the website for The Democratic Coalition listed the following mission statement:[3]
| “ | The Democratic Coalition Against Trump (DCAT) was formed in the Spring of 2016 with the main goal of making sure that Donald Trump never became President. DCAT now exists to hold the Trump White House accountable, and is directly countering Donald Trump, along with Republican elected officials and candidates who support him, through aggressive digital and traditional advertising, grassroots action, in-depth opposition research, and a nationwide rapid-response team.
The organization has chairs in all 50 states, comprised of Democratic elected officials, party chairs, delegates, grassroots leaders and activists.[4] |
” |
Background
The Democratic Coalition began as Keep America Great PAC, an anti-Donald Trump super PAC that filed paperwork with the FEC in late March 2016, identifying Nathan Lerner as both custodian of records and treasurer.[5] According to NBC News, the group was co-founded by Lerner and Scott Dworkin, who worked on a campaign to draft Joe Biden for a presidential run.[6] The organization changed its name to The Democratic Coalition in December 2016.[7]
Work
2016
Presidential election
The super PAC formed in July 2016 in an effort to bring together voters who opposed Trump but not necessarily those who supported Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The group's co-founders, Jon Cooper and Scott Dworkin, discussed their goals in an interview with NBC, saying that the organization wanted to have at least one person in every congressional district. Cooper said, "The next time Trump comes out with a statement that's misogynist, racist, xenophobic, we’ll have hundreds of members a national network of rapid response team that can respond at the local level. ... I want (the Trump campaign) to have to spend money everywhere."[6]
2017
Boycott Trump app
After Trump won the general election in November 2016, the organization changed its name to The Democratic Coalition, also referring to itself as The Democratic Coalition Against Trump. One of the organization's first post-election activities was to develop the Boycott Trump app, a phone application that allows users to search a database to see connections between the Trump administration and retailers. The app also allows users to connect with their representatives in Congress and to contact retailers directly. Speaking with NPR in June 2017, executive director Nate Lerner said, "[Those who oppose Trump] can still speak through their wallets and through their purchasing power every day. ... So we wanted to remind them of that and give them the ability to take action through that."[8]
Facebook organizing
In February 2017, The Democratic Coalition began organizing its supporters through Facebook posts. The group explained to Politico that they share news stories of interest to those who oppose Trump and his policies; they then encourage their followers to contact members of Congress to share their opinions. Executive director Nate Lerner explained, "We’re on Facebook because that’s where the people are. It’s what everyone goes to get their news. We aren’t just a Facebook page. There are other Facebook pages that just aggregate the news, but we do more than that. We’re an actual organization. We bring in people to the anti-Trump movement."[9]
Devin Nunes Russia billboards
In May 2017, The Democratic Coalition sponsored a billboard advertisement in the district of Devin Nunes (R-Calif.). The billboard read, "Devin Nunes, Hold a Town Hall, Let’s Talk About Russia." Nunes, who chaired the House Intelligence Committee at the time and had been involved in the committee's investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election, had not held a town hall in his district at that point. The Fresno Bee reported, "Nate Lerner, co-founder of the Democratic Coalition, said his group used email and social media to raise $2,500 in a matter of days to pay for the billboard. The average donation was $19, he said."[10]
Leadership
As of June 2017, the website for The Democratic Coalition listed the following individuals as the organization's leadership:[11]
- Nathan Lerner, Executive director
- Jon Cooper, Chair
- Scott Dworkin, Senior advisor
- Francesca Lucia, National finance director
- Chuck Westover, Senior advisor
- Jarad Geldner, Senior advisor
Finances
2016
According to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission, The Democratic Coalition reported $69,295 in total receipts and $59,372 in total disbursements during calendar year 2016.[12]
Legal status
The Democratic Coalition 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]
Top influencers by state
Influencers in American politics are power players who help get candidates elected, put through policy proposals, cause ideological changes, and affect popular perceptions. They can take on many forms: politicians, lobbyists, advisors, donors, corporations, industry groups, labor unions, single-issue organizations, nonprofits, to name a few.
In 2016, Ballotpedia identified The Democratic Coalition as a top influencer by state. We identified top influencers across the country through several means, including the following:
- Local knowledge of our professional staff
- Surveys of activists, thought leaders and journalists from across the country and political spectrum
- Outreach to political journalists in each state who helped refine our lists
Noteworthy events
Roger Stone alleged treason complaint
In October 2016, the Democratic Coalition Against Trump officially filed a treason complaint against Trump ally Roger Stone.[15] The group alleged that Stone had advance knowledge of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s email hack and that he “and the campaign have been working with a foreign government to influence an American election.”[16] In August, Stone announced that he had been in contact with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and promised an “October surprise,” saying, “Well, it could be any number of things. I actually have communicated with Assange. ... I believe the next tranche of his documents pertain to the Clinton Foundation but there's no telling what the October surprise may be.”[17]
In an interview with Politico on October 4, 2016, Stone said he would be “happy to cooperate” with the FBI “if they decided to call me.”[18] He further defended himself on October 19 in an opinion piece for Breitbart News, writing, “I had no advance notice of Wikileaks’ hacking of Podesta’s e-mails. I didn’t need it to know what Podesta has been up to. I do not work for any Russian interest. I have no Russian clients. I have never received a penny from any public or private entity or individual and that includes Russian intelligence. None. Nada. Zilch."[19]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Democratic Coalition Against Trump'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Donald Trump
- Super PAC
- Democratic presidential election super PACs, 2016
- Republican presidential election super PACs, 2016
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Democratic Coalition Against Trump, "Home," accessed June 13, 2017
- ↑ CNN, "First on CNN: New Super PAC 'Keep America Great' is forming to stop Trump," June 15, 2016
- ↑ The Democratic Coalition, "About DCAT," accessed June 13, 2017
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ FEC, "Statement of Organization, KAG PAC," accessed July 5, 2016
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 NBC News, "New Anti-Trump Super PAC Hopes to Raise $20 Million," July 1, 2016
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Amended Statement of Organization, The Democratic Coalition," December 14, 2016
- ↑ NPR, "Activists On The Left Seek To Harness Spending As Part Of Their Anti-Trump Resistance," June 11, 2017
- ↑ Politico, "Facebook's anti-Trump news surge," February 24, 2017
- ↑ The Fresno Bee, "Where’s Nunes? Billboard slams GOP congressman on town hall issue," May 12, 2017
- ↑ The Democratic Coalition, "Our Team," accessed June 13, 2017
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "The Democratic Coalition Year-End Report, 2016," April 26, 2017
- ↑ 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
- ↑ The Daily Caller, "Democrat Group Files Treason Complaint Against Roger Stone," October 17, 2016
- ↑ Democratic Coalition Against Trump, "FBI Complaint Filed Against Trump Advisor Roger Stone for Cyberterrorism," October 15, 2016
- ↑ Roll Call, "Roger Stone Claims To Be In Contact With WikiLeaks Founder," August 9, 2016
- ↑ Politico, "Stone ‘happy to cooperate’ with FBI on WikiLeaks, Russian hacking probes," October 14, 2016
- ↑ Breitbart, "Stone: Wikileaks, Mike Morell, Russia, and Me," October 19, 2016
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