Centrist Democrats Are Using Dark Money To Defeat Progressives

The Moderate PAC received virtually all its money from one source: Republican megadonor Jeffrey Yass.

A cadre of moderate Democrats and Republicans are joining together to revamp a political action committee to fight against progressive primary challengers to establishment Democrats.

With President Joe Biden’s former campaign manager as the PAC’s only consultant and a defense contractor executive as its treasurer, the Moderate PAC — not to be confused with the older Moderate Democrats PAC — stands to be an exemplar of the Democratic Party’s corporate-friendly, centrist wing. Its financial heft, though, comes from the other side of the aisle: So far, Republican megadonor Jeff Yass, the richest man in Pennsylvania, is virtually the only one putting money into the group.

Closeup of the dome of the US Capitol by night

“The corporate-backed establishment will stop at nothing to prevent more bartenders, nurses, principals, community organizers, and regular people from entering the Democratic Party in Congress,” Justice Democrats Executive Director Alexandra Rojas said in a statement to The Intercept. “They would rather buy elections than let working-class progressives even run. They will do everything in their power to make themselves richer at the expense of robbing poor and working-class Americans.”