@exposedbycmd
The Center for Media and Democracy is a national watchdog group that investigates corruption that undermines our democracy, environment, and economic prosperity. https://linktr.ee/centerformediaanddemocracy
PUBLISHED: The Texas Public Policy Foundation has launched a new funding stream well beyond its home state to support groups with a history of election denialism. In addition to the SPN affiliate’s work in Texas, TPPF funded “election judge” trainings in Arizona, Michigan, and Nevada in 2024.
PUBLISHED: The ultra-right State Freedom Caucus Network now has at least 15 state affiliates, with new caucuses announced last month in Minnesota and West Virginia. At least 167 lawmakers are members in the 15 states, according to a CMD review.
DraftKings wants your legislature.
@matthewccook5.bsky.social reports a DraftKings-backed super PAC is pouring $1.2M into Illinois Democratic primaries, backing candidates who’ll block tighter rules and higher taxes after the state’s per-bet tax cut into profits.
NEW: The sports gambling industry is pouring more than a million dollars into local Illinois races in a gambit to evade regulations and higher taxes.
ICYMI: The Center for Media and Democracy filed an IRS complaint yesterday against the Republican Attorneys General Association for failing to disclose Its donors in its latest filing. Read more 👇
Only a few hours left to support CMD! Don't wait, help us celebrate #CSWBigShare by giving now!
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Recent tax filings from the Conservative Partnership Institute, led by notorious election deniers Cleta Mitchell & Mark Meadows, show that CPI massively increased funding to Mitchell’s efforts to create a national panic over essentially nonexistent instances of noncitizen voting in the 2024 election
A little can go a long way when we get together and give together for The Big Share! Join the movement by supporting CMD!
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#CSWBigShare
BREAKING: The Center for Media & Democracy filed a complaint today with the Internal Revenue Service against the Republican Attorneys General Association for failure to itemize its contributions and expenditures in its 2025 year-end report due on January 31, 2026, as required by law.
Today's the day! Are you ready to be a part of The Big Share? Click the link below to support CMD's campaign. 👇 www.thebigshare.org/organization...
#CSWBigShare
Catch CMD's Matthew Cunningham-Cook on @legalafmtn.bsky.social with @thelisagraves.bsky.social where they discussed CMD’s new report on how the Musk/Trump playbook of destruction was pioneered in North Carolina where mega-donor Art Pope was given levers of power to wreak havoc on public policy.
ICYMI: Two of the largest right-wing super PACs, the Koch political network’s Americans for Prosperity Action (AFP Action) and Club for Growth Action, have disclosed their 2025 contributions and are starting to disclose their 2026 election expenditures.
Mom’s Club is a haunting piece of film that takes a vital look into where this country is heading, why and who is responsible. If you care about LGBTQIA+ protections or cinematography this should absolutely be on your list. There’s a virtual screening tomorrow and you should ABSOLUTELY check it out.
$6.5 mil of which AFP Action raised in 2025 came from Charles Koch’s Stand Together Chamber of Commerce.
Club for Growth Action, the political arm of the advocacy group Club for Growth, received $10 mil from charter school advocate and securities billionaire Jeffrey Yass in 2025.
NEW: Two of the largest right-wing super PACs, the Koch political network’s Americans for Prosperity Action (AFP Action) and Club for Growth Action, have disclosed their 2025 contributions. AFP Action raised $28.9 mil and CFG Action raised $15.8 mil.
As Trump escalates an anti-democratic crackdown, organizers can look to North Carolina's “Moral Mondays” a weekly action + a broad coalition led by Rev. William J. Barber & the NAACP.
@matthewccook5.bsky.social offers a roadmap for organizers looking to fight back.
I reported on the past, present, and future of North Carolina's Moral Mondays, for @exposedbycmd.bsky.social in conjunction with @inthesetimes.com.
NEW piece co-published with @inthesetimes.com:
As Trump intensifies his anti-democratic crackdown, North Carolina’s Moral Mondays movement offers a roadmap for organizers looking to fight back.
NEW: Uline CEO and GOP megadonor Richard Uihlein funneled $15.3 mil into his Restoration of America PAC in the 2nd half of 2025, its latest FEC filing shows. Uihlein’s contributions to the PAC account for over 90% of the total revenue between July and December of 2025, CMD calculated.
ICYMI: Government censorship hit an all-time high on U.S. college campuses in 2025. Read more 👇
Reviews are coming in from our first virtual private screening of Mom's Club!
Don't miss the second private virtual donors screening February 15th at 4pm PT.
gofund.me/0f829a8af
🚨 A U.S. House representative said she is crafting legislation to stop climate lawsuits and climate superfund laws that would make Big Oil companies pay for climate damages.
It’s time for leaders in Congress to speak out and make clear that Big Oil is not above the law.
📣 NO IMMUNITY FOR BIG OIL 📣
“This is really an attack on institutional governance and self governance,” @isaackamola.bsky.social, director of the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom, told CMD. “The absolute goal is to make sure that politicians are able to determine what goes on on college campuses.”
“Whether or not you’re public, if the state is passing [censorship bills], there is, like pebbles going into the water, [an] expanding circle of impact,” she told the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD).
-Amy Reid, director of PEN America’s Freedom to Learn program & co-author of the report
NEW: Government censorship hit an all-time high on U.S. college campuses in 2025.
That’s the main takeaway of a recent report by @penamerica.bsky.social based on a comprehensive survey of state and federal attacks on freedom at colleges and universities across the country.
"HHS has been referring to gender-affirming care for transgender and non-binary Americans as 'sex-rejecting procedures' since November...The term has no basis in medical or clinical practice. It originates instead from a conservative Catholic group called the Ethics and Public Policy Center"
6 DAYS TO GO!
In less than a week, we’ll be sharing Moms Club in our Private Virtual Donor Screening.
Donating at any level helps us reach the finish line. Sharing the GoFundMe helps bring more people into the conversation.
Thank you for being part of Moms Club!
gofund.me/8c56bc79a
We’ve made a change we think will make the event more accessible for everyone: our private screening of Moms Club is now virtual!
When:
Feb 5th at 7:00 PM PT
Thank you for the support so far—and for helping us finish this film and get it out to the people who need to see it!
gofund.me/63701e17c
Mike Pence's group Advancing American Freedom has poached another from Heritage Foundation: Hans von Spakovsky. Spakovsky is a voter suppressionist with a long history of promoting myths of voter fraud. He will be a Senior Legal Fellow in the new Edwin Meese III Institute for the Rule of Law at AAF.
