Unite America
| Unite America | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Location: | Denver, CO |
| Type: | PAC |
| Top official: | Nick Troiano, executive director |
| Website: | Official website |
Unite America is an organization based in Denver, Colorado. As of 2025, Unite America says it "is a philanthropic venture fund that invests in nonpartisan election reform to foster a more representative and functional government.[1] Unite America has a federal hybrid political action committee (PAC). [1]
Background
Charles Wheelan founded Unite America as the Centrist Project in 2014. The organization endorsed independents Greg Orman (Kansas) and Larry Pressler (South Dakota) for U.S. Senate. Nick Troiano, who ran as an independent candidate in Pennsylvania's 10th Congressional District in 2014, became executive director of the Centrist Project in 2016.[2]
The Centrist Project aimed to elect independent candidates to the Colorado State Legislature in 2018. Troiano said, "We anticipate being able to make a direct play at independents actually controlling the balance of power. That’s the end goal." He also stated, "If our ultimate goal is to effect national change at the federal level, we have to start somewhere, and I think the right place to start is a state that is primed to want it and to benefit from it, and that’s ultimately what led us here to Colorado."[3]
The Centrist Project was renamed Unite America in 2018.[4]
Leadership
As of July 2025, Nick Troiano is Unite America's executive director.[5]
As of July 2025, the following individuals are on the board of Unite America:[5]
- Marc Merrill, co-chair
- Kathryn Murdoch, co-chair
- Kent Thiry, co-chair
- Sam Mar
- Randy Peeler
- Lisa D. T. Rice
- Neal Simon
- Charles Wheelan
Work and activities
Electoral activities
As of 2025, Unite America said it has spent more than $70 million in "more than 100 state campaigns, national organizations, and candidates working to advance nonpartisan primaries, redistricting reform, and instant runoffs."[6]
Unite America endorsed a slate of independent candidates for governor's offices and the U.S. Senate on February 26, 2018. The gubernatorial candidates were incumbent Bill Walker (Alaska), Terry Hayes (Maine), and Greg Orman (Kansas). The candidates for U.S. Senate were Craig O’Dear (Missouri) and Neal Simon (Maryland). [7]
Unite America Fund
On July 21, 2019, Troiano announced the Unite America Fund, which was created to "cultivate a national donor network and develop portfolios of reforms and candidates to advance a more cohesive, multi-cycle, and results-oriented strategy to achieving shared objectives within the movement at both the state and federal level."
Unite America announced that the Unite America Fund would invest in the campaigns behind ballot measures in New York City, Alaska, and Massachusetts, as well as a redistricting organization in Pennsylvania.[8]
Ballot measure activity
As of July 2025, Unite America said its focus was to enact three specific policy proposals in states across the country, either via legislation or ballot initiative: Open primaries, Ranked-choice voting (RCV) and Redistricting commissions.[9]
Overview of ballot measure support and opposition
The following table details Unite America's ballot measure stances available on Ballotpedia:
Notable endorsements
This section displays endorsements this organization made in elections within Ballotpedia's coverage scope.
Finances
The following is a breakdown of the Unite America PAC's receipts and disbursements as submitted to FEC for 2021 through 2024
| Reported receipts and disbursements for the Unite America PAC, 2021-2024 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Revenues | Expenditures | |
| 2024[18] | $18,044,423.12 | $19,850,049.47 | |
| 2023[19] | $3,665,674.42 | $12,23,330.94 | |
| 2022[20] | $9,704,890.32 | $10,981,401.43 | |
| 2021[21] | $3,203,106.68 | $2,817,471.68 | |
The following were the largest donors who contributed $300,000 or more to the Unite America PAC from January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2024:[22]
| Donor | Amount |
|---|---|
| Kathryn Murdoch | $4,250,000.00 |
| Marc Merrill | $2,645,000.00 |
| Michael Bloomberg | $2,500,000.00 |
| Randy Peeler | $2,240,000.00 |
| Arthur Blank | $2,000,000.00 |
| John Arnold | $1,250,000.00 |
| Jason Carroll | $990,000.00 |
| Sam Walton | $850,000.00 |
| Kent Thiry | $345,000.00 |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Unite America'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- What is an influencer?
- Alaska Ballot Measure 2, Top-Four Ranked-Choice Voting and Campaign Finance Laws Initiative (2020)
- Massachusetts Question 2, Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative (2020)
- Oklahoma State Question 810, Independent Redistricting Commission Initiative (2020)
- New York City Ballot Question 1, Elections Charter Amendment: Ranked-Choice Voting, Vacancies, and City Council Redistricting Timeline (November 2019)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Unite America , "Homepage," accessed July 31, 2025
- ↑ Unite America, "Our Story," accessed July 31, 2025
- ↑ Colorado Politics, "Centrist Project hopes to break statehouse gridlock by electing independent candidates," November 6, 2017
- ↑ Unite America , "Who we Are," accessed July 31, 2025
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Unite America , "Our Team," accessed July 31, 2025
- ↑ Unite America , "Who We Are," accessed July 31, 2025
- ↑ Unite America, "Unite America Announces First-Ever National Slate of Independent U.S. Senate and Governor Candidates," February 26, 2018
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Unite America, "Unite America Announces Investments in Four Reform Campaigns," September 19, 2019
- ↑ Unite America "Priorities," accessed July 31, 2025
- ↑ Colorado TRACER, "Colorado Voters First," accessed September 3, 2024
- ↑ Ohio Secretary of State, "Reports Filed by Entity," accessed December 21, 2023
- ↑ Nevada Secretary of State, "Nevada Voters First Reports," accessed January 2, 2023
- ↑ Anchorage Daily News, "Outside group donates big to Alaska ranked-choice voting ballot measure," November 18, 2019
- ↑ The Intercept, "Murdoch-Funded Anti-Gerrymandering Group Hired Lobbyists With a History of Gerrymandering," October 7, 2019
- ↑ Virginia State Board of Elections, "Reports for FairMapsVirginia," accessed January 2, 2023
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Unite America, "Unite Colorado Endorses Fair Maps Redistricting Initiatives," September 6, 2018
- ↑ Unite America, "Unite America Endorses Maine Ranked Choice Voting," May 17, 2018
- ↑ FEC "FEC Disclosure Form 3X for Unite America (2024)," accessed July 31, 2025
- ↑ FEC "FEC Disclosure Form 3X for Unite America (2024)," accessed July 31, 2025
- ↑ [ https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00677773/1680987/ FEC "FEC Disclosure Form 3X for Unite America (2024)," accessed July 31, 2025]
- ↑ FEC "FEC Disclosure Form 3X for Unite America (2024)," accessed July 31, 2025
- ↑ FEC , "UNITE AMERICA PAC INC.," accessed July 31, 2025
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