Virginia Redistricting Fight Offers Rare Window Into the Left’s Election Funding Machine

Democrats’ attempt to redraw Virginia’s congressional maps for the midterm elections ultimately failed, but the effort revealed an activist funding apparatus on the Left.

The effort exposed an unusual coalition of House Democrat campaign groups, labor-backed nonprofits, entities linked to the leftist billionaire donor George Soros, and the Sunflower Services dark money network.

“The big fight over redistricting in Virginia shows how unions and left-wing ‘dark money’ networks like the one run by Sunflower Services/Arabella work together as one Borg to benefit their preferred political party,” Scott Walter, president of the Capital Research Center, told the Daily Signal in a statement Tuesday.

The Capital Research Center released a report Monday highlighting the Left’s funding networks and the Virginia redistricting ballot initiative, in particular. Walter told the Daily Signal his report shows how the Left can “quickly mobilize megadonors like George Soros and raise tens of millions of dollars, even for a project so dubious that the courts quickly quashed it.”

Virginians had overwhelmingly voted to turn over redistricting—the process of drawing maps to determine which voters will select which members of the House of Representatives—to a bipartisan commission in 2020.

Spanberger endorsed the call for a redistricting ballot initiative billed as a temporary measure to offset Republican redistricting efforts in other states for the 2026 midterm elections. While Virginians narrowly approved the ballot initiative last year (51.7% to 48.3%), the Virginia Supreme Court struck down the measure because it failed to follow the proper process for constitutional amendments.

The Capital Research Center’s report highlights five major funding streams behind Virginians for Fair Elections, the organization dedicated to passing the redistricting measure.

House Majority Forward

Since the Virginia redistricting effort focused on electing Democrats to the House of Representatives, it stands to reason that its largest contribution came from a PAC supporting House Democrats.

The House Majority PAC describes itself as the “only Super PAC solely focused on electing House Democrats.” House Majority Forward, the PAC’s affiliated advocacy group, gave $39.3 million to Virginians for Fair Elections, according to Virginia state records.

House Majority Forward did not respond to the Daily Signal’s request for comment.

The Fairness Project

The second-largest donor shines more light on the network.

The Fairness Project gave $11,725,000 to Virginians for Fair Elections, and it reported an in-kind contribution of $22,950.

The Fairness Project traces its origins to an SEIU-affiliated labor union, United Healthcare Workers West in California, which still claims to fund the project. It touts efforts ballot initiatives on various issues, including abortion and expanding Medicaid.

Two Sunflower Services-affiliated nonprofits backed the Fairness Project. The Hopewell Fund gave the project $1.8 million in the year ending December 2024, according to IRS filings. The Sixteen Thirty Fund gave the project $1.2 million in the same year. Sunflower Services emerged from the same infrastructure previously associated with Arabella Advisors, the influential fiscal-sponsorship network the Capital Research Center’s Scott Walter has long criticized.

Hopewell Fund gave $90,000 to Virginians for Fair Elections in April.

Neither the Fairness Project, nor the union, nor Hopewell Fund, nor Sixteen Thirty Fund responded to the Daily Signal’s requests for comment.

Fund for Policy Reform

The Fund for Policy Reform contributed $5 million to the redistricting campaign. The Fund for Policy Reform forms part of the Open Society network funded by George Soros and now run by his son, Alex. The fund began with a focus on supporting left-leaning environmental policy, but it later also supported anti-capitalist efforts and criminal justice reform.

The Open Society Foundations did not respond to the Daily Signal’s request for comment.

American Opportunity Action

American Opportunity Action, a new dark money funder, gave $3.5 million to the Virginia redistricting effort. Its ties to any of the other organizations remain unclear, and the organization did not respond to the Daily Signal’s request for comment.

Global Impact Social Welfare Fund

The Global Impact Social Welfare Fund gave Virginians for Fair Elections $1.5 million. The fund, a 501(c)(4) entity, exists under the Global Impact Ventures organizational umbrella. The fund says it builds partnership and delivers resources for addressing public policy on climate, justice reform, global health, voter rights, economic development, and racial and gender equity.

Global Impact Social Welfare Fund did not respond to the Daily Signal’s request for comment.

National Democratic Redistricting Committee

The National Democratic Redistricting Committee, Eric Holder’s nonprofit, provided in-kind contributions to the Virginia redistricting effort, rather than direct payments.

The committee reported two in-kind contributions, $10,872.68 on March 6, and $8,850.42 on April 16. These represent small figures compared to the committee’s gifts of $150,000 each to the Virginia House Democratic Caucus and to Spanberger’s 2025 campaign. Those contributions came one day before Virginia Speaker of the House Don Scott, a Democrat, sent a letter calling the special session for redistricting on Oct. 23.

While the Virginia Supreme Court ultimately struck down the redistricting measure, the campaign revealed how quickly a network of national Democratic organizations, labor-backed groups, Soros entities, and Sunflower Sevices-connected nonprofits can mobilize tens of millions of dollars around an electoral objective.