Wealthy leftists outside the state are paying big money to deepen the blue in Arizona.
An investigative report by the Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AFEC) and AZ Liberty Network (AZLN) documented the way national organizations are funding to strengthen Democratic politics in Arizona: Donor Advised Funds, dark-money intermediaries, and teachers’ unions.
AFEC and AZLN found the flow of funds totaled over $1 billion, at least.
Per the report, these tax-advantaged funds don’t arrive in Arizona directly. The millions change hands between different organizations before coming into the state, sometimes multiple times, effectively turning the money dark.
“Money enters the system tax-free, travels invisibly, and reemerges as ‘local’ influence with national fingerprints erased,” reads the report. “The result is a tax-advantaged, publicly underwritten, and union-fueled political machine that dwarfs traditional party structures, and it has reshaped Arizona’s civic landscape. It is not organic, spontaneous, or homegrown—it is manufactured, calculated, and imported, creating an institutionalized system of progressive infrastructure.”
The money flow begins with what the report calls “Upstream Sources.” Two cost-saving vehicles make the funding flows a reality: tax-advantaged Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) and direct taxpayer subsidization available through federal grantmaking. The former includes funds like Fidelity Charitable, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and Rockefeller Advisors. The latter vehicle largely operates through USAID. This agency gave the Tides Center $25 million to combat “misinformation.”
In 2024, the report found the Upstream Sources spent over $33 million in Arizona in non-federal races — a key year for determining which party would control the state legislature.
Altogether, Upstream Sources sent over $1 billion to organizations that acted as intermediaries — “Intermediary Organizations” — such as Sunflower Services (until recently, Arabella Advisors), Tides Nexus, and networks backed by billionaires George Soros or Hansjörg Wyss. Soros and Wyss also act as Upstream Sources.
From there, these funds finally make their way into Arizona. Top recipients that received millions include One Arizona, LUCHA, ACE, Chispa, Arizona Mirror, and the Copper Courier: the “Arizona Groups,” per the report.
The report alleged that the last two nonprofits listed, Arizona Mirror and Copper Courier, are news sites run by “Democratic operatives.”
Arizona Groups spent over $7 million to support down-ticket legislative Democrats, and nearly $5 million against the Republicans.
Further on the report mapped out how teachers’ unions fund local political action committees to influence Arizona races.
“These taxpayer-funded transfers, ostensibly for professional development or services, ultimately help free funds to support the same partisan infrastructure advancing the Left’s political objectives across Arizona,” stated the report.
Additionally, the report noted that the Arizona Education Association shares its headquarters building with other progressive organizations, such as One Arizona.
AFEC’s press release on the report interpreted the flow of funds as national influencing of local issues.
“This isn’t activism, it’s a professional, tax-advantaged political operation designed to look local but controlled from afar,” stated AFEC. “Arizona isn’t changing — it’s being engineered. Conservatives need a clear roadmap, strong counter-infrastructure, and strategic engagement to protect the state’s future and preserve local control.”
AFEC President Scot Mussi told “Winn Tucson” that the report was inspired by the USAID scandal around the time of President Donald Trump’s inauguration. That prompted curiosity about the origins of funding for Arizona’s major progressive political organizations.
Scot Mussi, President of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, joins Kathleen Winn on WINN TUCSON KVOI 1030 to discuss the Club’s newly released “Arizona’s Liberal NGO Syndicate Report.” Mussi breaks down how a coordinated network of national nonprofits and political intermediaries… pic.twitter.com/9QjDCpQUD5
Nothing undermines confidence in elections quite like discovering they can be compromised by foreign billionaires or botched altogether through complex schemes like ranked-choice voting.
This year, legislatures across the country took aim at both of these urgent threats to election integrity, as outlined by a recent report from Honest Elections Project. Altogether, eight states closed a critical legal loophole allowing foreign billionaires to flood ballot measure campaigns with foreign dark money. Meanwhile, six more states banned ranked-choice voting, the most legislative bans in a single year. In other words, conservative states have made 2025 a banner year for election reform.
Most Americans would be shocked to learn how vulnerable our elections are to foreign influence. Federal law forbids foreign nationals from donating to candidates or political parties yet offers no such protection for state or local ballot measures. This means that a foreign billionaire cannot influence a particular race, but he can spend millions to pass a constitutional amendment that rewrites the rules of the entire election system.
That loophole has been a gift to Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss. According to the watchdog group Americans for Public Trust, Wyss has directed roughly $280 million into the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which has simultaneously spent more than $130 million in foreign-tied funds into ballot campaigns in 26 states. As shocking as these figures are, they likely represent the tip of the iceberg. After all, the same loophole can just as easily be abused by foreign nationals doing the bidding of China and Russia.
Fortunately, conservative states are taking action to ensure that ballot measures are no longer a Trojan Horse for foreign interference. After Ohio led the way in 2024, eight states this year—Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee, and Wyoming—enacted new laws to ban foreign nationals and the groups they finance from funding ballot measure campaigns. Even Kentucky’s Democratic governor signed the bill into law, proof that defending elections from foreign influence should not be a partisan proposition.
That hasn’t stopped many on the left from fighting to keep these loopholes open for purely partisan gain. Marc Elias, Democrats’ top election lawyer, went to court in Ohio in 2024 and again in Kansas this year to block these bans. He lost both times, once in front of an Obama-appointed judge. States clearly have the authority to ban foreign funding, and every state should.
The same is true of ranked-choice voting, and 2025 was an incredible year in the ongoing fight to stop its spread.
Under ranked-choice voting, voters are asked to rank multiple candidates. Ballots are counted in rounds as losing candidates are eliminated and votes are redistributed. If a voter fails to rank enough candidates, the ballot is “exhausted” and thrown out. Candidates can win the most first-place votes but lose the election. Delays are inevitable; Alaska’s ranked-choice voting tabulation does not even begin until 15 days after Election Day. In California, a tabulation error once led to the wrong candidate being certified. Ranked-choice voting turns what should be a straightforward election into a complicated black box.
Fortunately, the public has seen the problems with this system from the start. In 2024, ranked-choice voting advocates spent nearly $100 million dollars on ballot measures promoting the scheme in six states. All failed. Only the District of Columbia adopted it, which is hardly a ringing endorsement.
Between 2022 and 2024, 11 states banned ranked-choice voting. And this year, six more – Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, North Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming – acted to make the scheme illegal. And in Utah, lawmakers allowed a failed pilot program to expire, meaning ranked-choice voting will come to an end there, too.
As extraordinary as this progress is, conservatives must not become complacent. States like Michigan, Florida, Nebraska, North Carolina, Montana, and Arizona have all seen significant amounts of foreign-tied money pumped into ballot issue campaigns, but so far have not acted. And progressives remain committed to pushing ranked-choice voting, especially after witnessing the scheme elevate a Democratic Socialist in New York. Ranked-choice voting lobbyists are working legislatures nationwide, and activists are already gathering signatures for another ballot measure in the presidential battleground of Michigan.
That should serve as a warning. When it comes to securing our elections, the job is never done. This was a banner year for election integrity. Conservative leaders must keep the momentum going in 2026 and beyond.
On Thursday, Arizona State Representative Alexander Kolodin (R-LD3) accused Governor Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes of improperly delegating state powers to a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization. The accusation raises concerns about transparency and potential conflicts of interest in the administration of state business.
According to documents Kolodin says he obtained through a months-long investigation, both Hobbs and Mayes engaged in undisclosed agreements with the States United Democracy Center, a nonprofit organization focused on protecting elections and democratic norms. Kolodin alleged that the group holds connections to progressive donors and political agendas.
The materials released by Kolodin indicate that Hobbs, during her tenure as Secretary of State, contracted with States United on three separate occasions to provide assistance in managing her office. One such arrangement was reportedly renewed shortly after Hobbs assumed the governorship. Kolodin contends that while these services were presented as being provided at no cost to the state, States United simultaneously received permission to advocate in regulatory and legal proceedings against Arizona’s interests—even while advising top state officials.
The report also includes allegations that the group was allowed to delete public records, potentially in violation of state law. Kolodin claims that the organization’s acknowledgment of this risk was disregarded by AG Mayes, who publicly denied any wrongdoing. The Attorney General’s office, according to Kolodin, has yet to release additional documents tied to its interactions with States United.
“Governor Hobbs and Attorney General Mayes have betrayed Arizonans by allowing radical, dark-money activists to infiltrate and weaponize Arizona’s government,” said Kolodin in a statement. “This corrupt collusion must be exposed. The people deserve answers, transparency, and immediate accountability.”
The allegations are likely to intensify tensions in the state, where debates over election integrity and government transparency have remained prominent in recent years. Representative Kolodin, a Republican, serves in the Arizona House of Representatives and has been a vocal critic of Governor Hobbs’ agenda.
Jonathan Eberle is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Arizona State University (ASU) received over $3.4 million in funds from the nonprofit founded by leading Democratic dark money donor George Soros.
The online data guru Jennica Pounds, known by her username @DataRepublican, named ASU as a recurring recipient of Soros funds as part of nearly a decade of grants from the Open Society Foundations (OSF).
🚨 Download Soros Grant Spreadsheet 💵
Ever wonder where George Soros is sending his money? 👀 I've extracted and published the public Open Society Foundations grant database in spreadsheet format. This is your chance to dig through the receipts. 📂🧾
🇺🇸 Want to follow the…
— DataRepublican (small r) (@DataRepublican) May 12, 2025
Pounds — who boasts a background as a software engineer for leading American tech companies including Amazon, eBay, Snap, and Upstart — gained recognition among Republican voters and the Trump administration for building AI tools to assist with the ongoing Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effort to identify and eliminate wasteful or fraudulent spending.
Pounds’ latest project focused on cataloguing Soros’ philanthropic arm.
From 2018 to 2022, the ASU Foundation received $169,000 for the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College; $200,000 for the Connected Learning in Crisis Consortium; $1.2 million for the McCain Institute for International Leadership; $200,000 for improving learning amid crises and conflict; $22,000 to bring together global educational leaders, and $24,000 for the New American University.
One of OSF’s largest donations to ASU was over $1.5 million for English Second Language (ESL) at the Open Society University Network (OSUN).
Soros established OSUN in January 2020 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world. OSUN serves as a global collaboration of universities. ASU was among the first to be included in OSUN. Of note, ASU’s page for OSUN omits any mention of Soros as the establisher of the network.
Other American universities to later join OSUN were the Bard Early Colleges of Baltimore, Cleveland, Manhattan, New Orleans, Newark, Queens, and Washington, D.C.; the Bard Prison Initiative; Picker Center for Executive Education at Columbia University; Bard College at Simon’s Rock; University of Connecticut Human Rights Institute; Talloires Network of Engaged Universities; Princeton Global History Lab; Tuskegee University; University of California’s Berkeley Human Rights Center; and the University of Pittsburgh’s Afghanistan Project at the Center for Governance and Markets.
Other Arizona-based entities to receive Soros money were:
Arizona Wins ($3.875 million);
Living United For Change in Arizona ($3.3 million);
One Arizona ($1.8 million);
Our Voice, Our Vote Arizona ($1 million);
League of Conservation Voters ($750,000);
Inter Tribal Council of Arizona ($500,000);
Community Foundation for Southern Arizona ($500,000);
Arizona Community Foundation ($400,000);
ADRC Action ($300,000);
PODER ($100,000);
Poder in Action ($75,000);
YWCA of Southern Arizona ($60,000)
Arizona Center for Empowerment ($37,000, and another $325,000 through the Center for Popular Democracy, a partner organization)
Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence ($25,000);
Sonoran Prevention Works ($15,000)
Other entities were paid by OSF throughout the years to engage in advocacy in Arizona and, ultimately, influence state policies and laws. Among those who received payment for advocacy were: Invest in Education, $700,000; re:power Fund, $200,000; State Engagement Fund, $170,000; PAFCO Education Fund, $150,000; Alliance for Youth Organizing, $50,000; and Vote.org, $20,000.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
In a since-deleted article, “Three Women-Led Organizations That Helped Flip Arizona Blue,” principal actors behind several of the most powerful leftist dark money organizations in the state bragged about engineering Democratic voter turnout in the 2020 election.
Vianey Olivarria, then-communications director and current executive director for Chispa AZ, credited work done by her organization and others to turn out Democratic voters. Olivarria also served as a director of Activate 48, a coalition of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) organizations.
“Arizona turning blue is a victory a decade in the making and owed to the tireless work and dedication of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people who organize for justice and liberation,” stated Olivarria.
Chispa AZ is a 501(c)(4) project of the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), another 501(c)(4), and sponsored by Way to Win, a national donor network aimed at defeating Republican candidates. Way to Win served as the sponsor to Progress Arizona, formerly and once again led by Gov. Katie Hobbs’ ousted spokeswoman Josselyn Berry.
Per the IRS, a 501(c)(4) organization may engage in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to candidates so long as those activities aren’t the organization’s primary activity.
Discrepancies exist in various organizations’ tax returns disclosing contributions to Chispa AZ’s political arm, Chispa AZ PAC. Neither “Chispa AZ” or “Chispa AZ PAC” exist within the IRS database. Also, Chispa AZ has claimed the same EIN as LCV publicly; however, different organizations’ tax returns have cited multiple, nonexistent EINs for Chispa AZ.
In their 2018,2019, and 2020 tax returns, LCV listed an EIN number for Chispa AZ PAC that yielded no results in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization database. In their 2019 tax return, LCV listed an organization called Fuerte Arts Movement for the Chispa AZ PAC’s address, and listed the same EIN number from 2018. They used the EIN again in their tax return.
In the 2019, 2020, and 2021 tax returns from the California-based Grove Action Fund, a different address and EIN number from that used by LCV were listed for Chispa AZ PAC. The listed address was the correct address for Chispa AZ; however, the EIN listed also doesn’t exist in the IRS database.
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona’s 2020 tax return listed that same nonexistent EIN number as well, and offered the Fuerte Arts Movement address.
Tax returns from the Green Advocacy Project (2020) and the Wilderness Society Action Fund (2019) also listed the nonexistent EIN given by LCV, but listed the correct address.
Publicly collected data reflects that Chispa AZ PAC has managed at least around $8.5 million in contributions since 2017. Yet, Chispa AZ has claimed to have total revenues of nearly $26.9 million, net assets of over $18.4 million, and expenses of over $18.9 million.
Chispa AZ is also part of MiAZ, a coalition of nonprofits focused on turning out minority voters.
Other Chispa organizations exist in Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Nevada, and Texas.
Chispa AZ isn’t the only dark money entity lacking a clear IRS status to have an outsized impact for Democrats in recent elections. There’s also the two Arizona Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AZ AANHPI) related organizations: AZ AANHPI for Equity and AZ AANHPI Advocates. Although AZ AANHPI wasn’t featured in the deleted 2020 article, their communications director was: Alexa Rio-Osaki. She spoke on behalf of a different dark money nonprofit also part of MiAZ: Our Voice, Our Vote.
“We’re doing what we can to ensure everyone’s represented,” said Rio-Osaki.
Rio-Osaki has her hands in multiple leftist dark money organizations: in addition to AZ AANHPI and Our Voice, Our Vote, Rio-Osaki served as the director of Progress Arizona.
Recently, AZ AANHPI for Equity has engaged in lawfare against non-party conservative organizations, demanding transparency of private documents while operating in the dark itself.
AANHPI for Equity and AZ AANHPI Advocates have independent websites, social media pages, and staff, yet the pair are presented as one entity in multiple locations (for example, on the AZ AANHPI for Equity “about us” page). Both were founded in July 2020 by Jennifer Chau, who has served as the director for AZ AANHPI for Equity, an unspecified nonprofit, and executive director for AZ AANHPI Advocates, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, since their inception according to her LinkedIn page.
According to the IRS, AZ AANHPI Advocates had its federal tax exempt status automatically revoked in mid-May for not filing any tax forms in the entire three years of its existence (EIN:85-2344934). The IRS issued its revocation posting earlier this month. No IRS records exist for AZ AANHPI for Equity.
Yet, both organizations’ websites continue to solicit donations and market themselves as nonprofits. The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) awarded AZ AANHPI Advocates good standing for its status as a nonprofit in mid-July as well. No ACC records exist for AZ AANHPI for Equity.
Like Chispa AZ, AZ AANHPI has used EIN numbers of another organization in receipt of funds. In 2021, AZ AANHPI for Equity received $25,000 from Solidago Foundation and gave the EIN belonging to One Arizona, the 30-nonprofit coalition to which all five Arabella Advisors nonprofit arms issued funds. Also that year, AZ AANHPI made its name synonymous with “One Arizona” and used its EIN in its receipt of $35,000 in funding from Asian Americans Advancing Justice.
On its website, AZ AANHPI Advocates discloses that it receives funding from top leftist dark money organizations The Future We Need and Arizona Wins!. The listed address for The Future We Need is the same address for the Arizona Education Association and Progress Now Arizona (now Progress Arizona); yet, no such organization as “The Future We Need” exists per ACC, the IRS, the Federal Election Commission (FEC), or the secretary of state’s campaign finance databases. There does exist a similarly-named dark left political action committee (PAC) entity, “The Future We Want.”
In their entire three years of advocacy and fundraising, only AZ AANHPI Advocates had any campaign finance records filed within the state: just one receipt of $10,000 from Invest in Arizona in August 2021, for “signature gathering.” According to the secretary of state’s campaign finance database, AZ AANHPI has never filed any reports on their contributions or expenditures.
The deleted article was published by Supermajority News: a project of Supermajority and the Supermajority Education Fund, the latter a project of the Arabella Advisors’ New Venture Fund. Arabella Advisors is behind one of the biggest dark money funding networks in the nation; their shadowy dealings prompted the District of Columbia attorney general to issue subpoenas to the organization last month.
Along with their Arizona-based compatriots, Supermajority will also be working to turn out more Democratic voters in the upcoming 2024 election.
Last year, Supermajority reported turning out over 959,000 voters: nearly 116,200 in Arizona. The organization had over 8,000 active members in Arizona. Supermajority reported that they ensured the turnout of 30 percent of women ages 18 to 35 years old, specifically to ensure the re-election of Sen. Mark Kelly and election of Gov. Katie Hobbs. The organization disclosed that their approach consisted of contacting female Democrat voters that sporadically voted in presidential elections but hadn’t voted in midterm elections.
“At the state level, we were able to help elect and support progressive governors who would protect and expand women’s freedoms in their states,” stated Supermajority.
Supermajority took credit for Kelly’s re-election and Hobbs’ election, declaring that 92 percent of Kelly’s margin of victory was made up of their voters and that their 116,200-voter turnout far surpassed Hobbs’ 17,100-vote margin.
The organization also noted its plans for the upcoming 2024 election: contacting 432,300 female Arizona voters who didn’t vote last year, overcoming the projected 10,500-vote victory margin, and electing a Democratic senator to take independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s seat. The organization also plans to target Georgia and North Carolina.
“We need a Democratic senator in AZ who will work alongside Sen. Mark Kelley [sic],” stated Supermajority.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
