Eric Swalwell’s Campaign Spent $42K on ‘Childcare’ Expenses in 5 Months After the Election

Rep. Eric Swalwell’s campaign spent tens of thousands of dollars after the election on childcare expenses for the California Democrat, raising potential ethics concerns for a lawmaker who has been accused in the past of using his campaign war chest as a "personal piggybank."

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Revealed: Pro-Kamala social media millions that couldn’t sync ‘Brat’ with ‘Democrat’



The abrupt withdrawal last year of President Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee, followed rapidly by his replacement with Vice President Kamala Harris, irked many voters left out by the process. Yet social media seemed to ooze with enthusiasm and Gen Z-friendly hipster appeal.

Influencers flooded the web with neon matcha green pro-Harris videos synced to beats from singer Charli XCX’s album “Brat” released last year. The poppy rave videos, gushed journalists, showed that Harris embodied the confidently independent “brat” vibe conveyed by the music. Social media pages bubbled with memes celebrating Harris as the voice of queer and black youth, in contrast with the Republican agenda of “white supremacy.” Digital creator Amelia Montooth, in one viral TikTok video, kissed a woman and tried searching for pornography, actions her sketch suggested would be banned if Harris lost the election.

The attempted reach and spending of the pro-Kamala Harris 2024 effort is unprecedented.

Harris, a career politician favored by the Democratic Party’s establishment, never quite fit the bill as an icon of activist movements. But the sudden influencer buzz seemed to transform the stodgy former prosecutor into an icon of the cultural zeitgeist.

As it turns out, the tidal wave of enthusiasm was not entirely genuine. Much of the content, including Montooth’s videos, was quietly funded by an elusive group of Democratic billionaires and major donors in an arrangement designed to conceal the payments from voters.

RealClearInvestigations obtained internal documents and WhatsApp messages from Democratic strategists behind the influencer campaign. Way to Win, one of the major donor groups behind the effort, spent more than $9.1 million on social media influencers during the 2024 presidential election — payments revealed here for the first time. The amount was touted in a document circulated after the election detailing the organization’s accomplishments.

The effort supported over 550 content creators who published 6,644 posts across platforms TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, and X. Way to Win coached creators on phrases, issue areas, and key themes to “disseminate pro-Kamala content throughout the cycle,” a post-election memo from the group noted.

The look behind the curtain reveals that at least some of the image-making around the Harris candidacy was carefully orchestrated by the same types of covert social media marketing often used by corporate brands and special interest groups. Such campaigns provide the illusion of organic support through the authentic appeal of trusted social media voices.

Way to Win, in internal messages, touted its work with a stable of Democratic Party-affiliated influencers and activists, including Harry Sisson, Emily Amick, Kat Abu, and Dash Dobrofsky. The group also overtly cultivated “non-political creators” — influencers typically known for travel vlogs, comedic skits, or cooking recipes — and seeded them with “positive, specific pro-Kamala content” that was “integral in setting the tone on the Internet and driving additional organic digital support.” The effort often took the form of talking points that were rapidly distributed to the in-network creators.

“Bro who is Tim Walz,” said @AbeeTheArtist, one of the TikTok creators backed by Way to Win. “He’s a football coach, that’s hard,” the influencer continued. “It’s time for Republicans to drop out, it’s not looking good for ya’ll!”

Identity appeals fall flat

In a series of internal presentations about the influencer campaign, Way to Win emphasized its data-driven approach. “We know what messaging works,” noted Liz Jaff, a branding strategist working with Way to Win, during a call with donors last year. She touted the use of an AI-based focus group tool developed by Future Forward, the Harris campaign’s primary super PAC.

Jaff also explained the process for developing talking points that could be inserted into organic-appearing messages and posts on social media. “We then convey that to the influencers, who take that into their own words,” continued Jaff. “We then test those videos and see what needs to be boosted,” she added, referring to paid media efforts to amplify specific TikTok videos or favored streamers.

The lofty promises of message mastery, however, often fell short. Way to Win directly financed a series of clunky YouTube shows and liberal identity politics-oriented social media skits designed to bring voters out to support the Harris campaign and Democrats more broadly. There’s little evidence that such measures moved any significant numbers of voters during an election in which Democrats lost historic levels of support from key constituency groups — the youth vote, Latinos, and black men swung significantly to Donald Trump last year, upending decades of voting patterns.

Ilana Glazer, a comedian who starred in the Comedy Central show "Broad City," received Way to Win funding for a series of election videos called “Microdosing Democracy,” in which she half-heartedly endorsed Harris as she lit a spliff of marijuana. Another TikTok and Instagram series backed by the donors, called “Gaydar,” featured interviews quizzing people on the streets of New York City about gay culture trivia with little election-related content.

Way to Win also funded a caravan with an inflatable IUD to Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Raleigh, North Carolina; St. Louis, and other locations. The tour, which featured content creators producing posts along the way, was designed to bring attention to claims that Trump would ban contraceptive devices.

In an apparent attempt to boost Harris’ support among black men, Way to Win directly funded a series of YouTube interview-style talk shows called Watering Hole Media.

“I heard a brother say to me, ‘Man, I didn't know I was going to be excited when Kamala was selected,’” said Jeff Johnson, a managing director with the lobbying firm Actum LLC who worked as a host for the Watering Hole Media series “Tap In.” “One brother said, ‘I’m not even fully sure why,’” continued Johnson. “No, seriously, he said, ‘When I look at her, though, she reminds me of my aunt,’ and I said yes, so there is this communal piece.”

The discussion, taped at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last August, buzzed about the “through line” from the Black Panthers to the Nation of Islam to Harris' nomination, suggesting her candidacy represented another moment in radical black politics.

The Way to Win-sponsored media group sponsored many similar discussions attempting to buoy the Harris candidacy with appeals to racial identity politics.

Despite the well-funded efforts, few tuned in. The seven video programs produced at the DNC collectively garnered fewer than 1,000 views. One video had fewer than 40 viewers.

Where did the money go?

Questions have mounted over the campaign spending decisions by Harris and her supporting organizations. The Harris campaign and her super PAC spent over $1.5 billion in the last months of the campaign, with much of the money flowing to consultants and media advertising. Alex Cooper, who hosted Harris for an interview on her “Call Her Daddy” podcast, was baffled about why the campaign spent about $100,000 on a “cardboard” temporary studio set that “wasn’t that nice.” Others have raised similar concerns about payments to Oprah Winfrey’s production firm.

“Our 2024 creator program reached key audiences with nearly a billion views, but there’s more to do, and we’re applying lessons from last cycle,” a Way to Win spokesperson said in a statement to RCI.

“Sometimes in presidential campaigns, there are times when there aren't any cost controls,” observed Mike Mikus, a Democratic strategist in Pennsylvania. “The biggest question is whether they had any empirical evidence that this TikTok messaging would work.”

The payments occupy a hazy area of election law. Way to Win structured the funds through nonprofit corporations that paid various influencer talent agencies — firms such as Palette Management and Vocal Media. The money was not listed in Federal Election Commission disclosure portals that show political funds spent during the campaign.

While television or radio ads require disclaimers showing the groups responsible for paying for the advertisements, there are no equivalent mandates for TikTok stars or Instagram personalities who receive payment to promote election-related content. Despite some attempts to reform election transparency regulations, minimal progress has been made. The FEC has deadlocked over attempts to form new rules to govern the influencer space, leaving the entire medium virtually lawless regarding campaign cash.

Way to Win operates several entities and corporations, most of which do not disclose donors. The group did not respond to a request for comment for more information. However, the cache of documents about the influencer campaign pointed to some clues. Way to Win hosted a series of donor-only events in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., with representatives of the Open Society Foundations, the charity backed by billionaire investor George Soros. OSF did not respond to a request for comment.

Democrats are hardly alone in payola for influencers. Republican campaigns have spent several hundred thousand dollars on similar social media marketing agencies that tout the ability to seed content with popular accounts on X and TikTok.

But the attempted reach and spending of the pro-Kamala Harris 2024 effort is unprecedented. Way to Win justified the spending sprees as the only way to compete with pro-Trump voices and popular podcasts, such as Joe Rogan, which the Harris campaign eschewed.

“Our goal this year was to combat conservative content domination on Instagram and TikTok. We did that,” Way to Win claimed in a triumphant memo to donors after the election.

“Had more Americans gotten their media from Instagram and TikTok,” the December memo argued, “Kamala Harris would be the next president of the United States.”

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and LeeFang.com and made available via RealClearWire.

Democratic Party Sues Trump Administration

'Replacement with the President’s decree'

Trump fires Democratic FEC commissioner who repeatedly attacked him. Now she's refusing to leave.



Ellen Weintraub, a Democratic commissioner and chair on the Federal Election Commission, revealed Thursday night that President Donald Trump fired her last week. Weintraub, an outspoken Trump critic whose political bias and routine disparagement of Trump have long sparked controversy, suggested she won't leave her post.

Weintraub, who has served on the nation's civil campaign finance regulator since 2002 and previously worked at the Democratic-aligned firm Perkins Coie, shared an image of a Jan. 31 letter she claimed was from Trump, which stated, "You are hereby removed as a Member of the Federal Election Commission, effective immediately. Thank you for your service on the Commission."

Weintraub noted, "Received a letter from POTUS today purporting to remove me as Commissioner & Chair of FEC. There's a legal way to replace FEC commissioners — this isn't it."

Weintraub's six-year term — a term limit established by the Federal Election Campaign Act — expired nearly two decades ago, back when George W. Bush was still president. However, commissioners can continue in a holdover status. Evidently, the Democratic commissioner from New York wants to keep holding on.

"I've been lucky to serve the American people & stir up some good trouble along the way," continued the Democratic commissioner, who previously accused Trump of damaging American democracy and questioned the legitimacy of the Electoral College. "That's not changing anytime soon."

'Weintraub's statements indicate that she has prematurely judged matters that could come before the FEC, and that she radically rejects any legal perspective other than her own.'

It appears that in order to can a commissioner, the president must first nominate a replacement, then have him confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Accordingly, Weintraub can continue to haunt the commission until her replacement is named and approved.

Former Republican FEC commissioner Caroline Hunter noted in a 2019 op-ed that Weintraub's partisan hackery was "harming the legitimacy of the institution she purports to serve."

"Commissioners are meant to be independent and neutral arbiters of campaign finance law. Yet Weintraub's statements indicate that she has prematurely judged matters that could come before the FEC, and that she radically rejects any legal perspective other than her own," continued Hunter. "Not only that, she risks misleading the public about what the FEC does and what campaign finance law really says."

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the Biden-pardoned chairman of the Jan. 6 committee, was among the Democrats who had a conniption upon learning that Trump was kicking Weintraub to the curb.

Thompson stated, "Donald Trump is methodically dismantling our democracy. He is firing every person with experience, expertise, character, and commitment to the Constitution in order to replace them with mindless yes-men who will give Donald Trump and Elon Musk carte blanche to break the law and rip off the American people."

The New York Times indicated that the White House had not responded to requests for comment.

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DNC Chair Candidate Reveals Massive Donations from George Soros, Reid Hoffman on Eve of Vote

Ben Wikler’s campaign to lead the Democratic National Committee has been largely funded by Democratic megadonors Reid Hoffman and George Soros, according to campaign finance filings Wikler filed hours before Democrats will cast their votes for the next DNC chairman.

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These Four Democratic Firms Raked in $600 Million Running Ads for Kamala's Failed Campaign

Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign directed nearly $600 million to just four media consulting firms with deep ties to the Democratic establishment, Federal Election Commission records show.

The post These Four Democratic Firms Raked in $600 Million Running Ads for Kamala's Failed Campaign appeared first on .

Biden-Harris DOJ Violated Its Own Policies by Warning Musk Against Swing-State Giveaway and Then Leaking to the Media, FEC Chairman Says

The Department of Justice violated its own internal policies when it sent a letter—which ended up in the New York Times—warning Elon Musk's political action committee against its $1 million voter registration giveaway in swing states, the chairman of the Federal Election Commission alleges in a letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

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FEC Complaint: Washington Post’s Paid Ads Boosting Harris And Criticizing Trump Violate Campaign Finance Rules

The Trump campaign filed a complaint against The Washington Post with the FEC over the paper's latest advertising campaign.

Critics ask whether DOJ will give Jimmy Kimmel the Douglass Mackey treatment for 'election interference'



Critics are wondering whether the Biden-Harris Department of Justice will hold Jimmy Kimmel to the same standard to which it held pro-Trump social media influencer Douglass Mackey, who was convicted for supposed "election interference" and sentenced to prison last year for memes.

There is cause to be skeptical. After all, the DOJ has a habit of holding conservatives to a higher standard than its ideological allies.

Former Trump advisers Stephen Bannon and Peter Navarro were convicted for supposed contempt of Congress, whereas Attorney General Merrick Garland and former Attorney General Eric Holder got off scot-free. The proudly pro-abortion DOJ has almost exclusively targeted pro-life activists when it comes to FACE Act charges. The same DOJ adopted a draconian and in some cases "fact-free approach" when prosecuting Jan. 6 protesters after previously treating Black Lives Matter rioters with kid gloves.

The titular host of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" has recently made a number of desperate appeals to potential voters, asking them to get out and vote — just not for President Donald Trump.

In his monologue Wednesday, the Harris booster said, "You have to vote. If you can vote early, vote early. If you can't vote early, vote on time. If you want to vote for Trump, vote late. Vote very late. Do your voting on Thursday or maybe Friday."

'Biden's DOJ sent Douglass Mackey to prison for sharing this same joke.'

Libs of TikTok responded, "Wasn't Douglass Mackey sentenced to prison for doing something similar? Will @TheJusticeDept investigate Jimmy Kimmel?"

Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) noted, "Douglass Mackey was sent to prison for this."

"Biden's DOJ sent Douglass Mackey to prison for sharing this same joke about Hillary," tweeted former Salomon Brothers and Citigroup investment banker John LeFevre. "Another example of the weaponized lawfare and two-tiered justice that awaits us if Kamala wins."

Mackey chimed in, tweeting, "Jimmy Kimmel told his joke to an audience of millions. The joke meme I sent out didn't even reach more than 100 people until Buzzfeed and Wired reported on it."

Mackey was arrested in 2021, convicted in New York for supposed "election interference," and sentenced in October 2023 to seven months in prison by an Obama-appointed judge, Ann M. Donnelly.

At the time, Trump said, "They're putting Douglass Mackey in jail for sharing a joking meme about Hillary Clinton seven years ago. Nobody ever heard of anything like that."

According to the Biden-Harris DOJ, "Between September 2016 and November 2016, Mackey conspired with other influential Twitter users and with members of private online groups to use social media platforms, including Twitter, to disseminate fraudulent messages that encouraged supporters of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to 'vote' via text message or social media which was legally invalid."

The Intercept noted that there is no federal law against lying about election mechanisms or the electoral process. Mackey was instead indicted under a Reconstruction-era statue known as Section 241 or the "Ku Klux Klan Act," which prohibits conspiring to "injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person" trying to exercise a constitutionally or federally protected right.

The DOJ was evidently proud of the mental gymnastics required to charge the Clinton critic, stating that his prosecution was "groundbreaking."

Mackey is appealing his case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the Supreme Court, should that fail.

According to Mackey and amici curiae, "The First Amendment tolerates narrow, clear statutes that target knowingly false speech concerning the time, place, and manner, or other technical mechanics of an election. But Section 241 is not such a statute. This Court should reverse the decision of the district court."

"When I made an election joke, the Deep State used it as a pretext to conduct a fishing expedition against me, subpoenaing all financial records, leases, employment information and pay stubs, and email accounts. Will Jimmy Kimmel enjoy the same?" Mackey tweeted on Thursday.

'Force these scumbags to live by their own rules.'

One X user noted that Kimmel's "violation is worse than what [Mackey was] convicted for, and he transmitted this over federally licensed airwaves. The @FCC, @FBI, #FEC and #DOJ should be contacted, @ABC should be immediately sanctioned, and @Jimmykimmel needs to be investigated. Anything less is selective and preferential justice."

Rob Eno, Blaze Media's director of content marketing, quipped, "It would be a real shame if everyone flooded the US DOJ crime tip line and ask them to charge Jimmy Kimmel with the same crime they charged Douglass Mackey with. A real shame. I'm not telling you to to go this link and do it."

Conservative commentator Matt Walsh tweeted, "I'm dead serious when I say if Trump wins he should have Jimmy Kimmel arrested and jailed. Force these scumbags to live by their own rules."

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