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- A review of the FEC filings for Mississippi Forward PAC shows a $3 million donation received from United Futures on August 24. From that, $1.9 million was disbursed over the next few weeks to cover salaries, legal fees and canvassing. Campaign Legal Center says it was part of an orchestrated $20 million massive “straw donor” scheme.
A complaint has been filed with the Federal Election Commission by a nonpartisan watchdog group claiming that in the weeks leading up to the 2026 General Election “unknown individuals… orchestrated a massive scheme to funnel nearly $20 million into electoral advocacy efforts in multiple states” to boost Democrat candidates, including in Mississippi.
Campaign Legal Center filed the complaint (shown below) against United Futures Inc., based in Delaware, on November 2, the day before the General Election.
Alana Mounce served as UFI’s incorporator in August. She was the political director for former Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign and for the Democratic National Committee. She also worked for former President Joe Biden’s 2021 inaugural committee and then in the Biden White House.
The complaint alleges that UFI was used as a “straw donor” to illegally conceal the sources of the millions that flowed to aid Democrat candidates in Mississippi, Kansas and Alaska. While not specifically named in the complaint, it is presumed that the funds were primarily meant to support the Democratic Party’s Senate candidates Scott Colom, Adam Hamilton and Mary Peltola. Colom and Hamilton both won their races while the Alaska’s election remains too close to call.
“Just twelve days after its formation on August 12, 2026, UFI began making multimillion-dollar contributions to multiple super PACs, several of which received all or virtually all of their funding from UFI, and which immediately started spending on electoral ads and voter canvassing; UFI ultimately contributed an astonishing $19,710,000 over a six-week period between August 24, 2026, and October 8, 2026,” the watchdog group outlines.
Campaign Legal Center, founded in 2002 by Trevor Potter, a Republican former Commissioner of the Federal Election Commission, said the “unknown true contributor(s) formed and used UFI as a shell company to unlawfully conceal their identities from public disclosure, in blatant violation of federal campaign finance laws that ensure transparency for voters.”
“There is no indication that UFI has any real-world or digital presence, or any activity during this period from which it could have obtained sufficient funds to contribute anywhere near this much money without someone (i.e., the true contributor(s)) transferring funds to UFI for that purpose,” the complaint alleges.
The watchdog further said there is reason to believe that at least four of the Super PACs that received
funds from UFI – United Futures PAC, Mississippi Forward PAC, Vote Kansas, and 49th State PAC – “knowingly participated in this straw donor scheme.”
A review of the FEC filings for Mississippi Forward PAC shows a $3 million donation received from United Futures on August 24. No other contributions are showing as being received by Mississippi Forward PAC.
From that, $1.9 million was disbursed over the next few weeks to cover salaries, legal fees and canvassing.
The Elias Group, the nation’s largest law firm focused on representing the Democratic Party and their candidates, who was also called in to assist Colom’s campaign in the wake of the close General Election with Republican U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, received nearly $17,000 from Mississippi Forward PAC.
Marc Elias of The Elias Group appeared alongside Colom and DNC staff in a press Zoom to discuss the affidavit and absentee vote counting in Mississippi just days after the General Election.
All on the Field, a Democrat voter contact firm that works to canvass and mobilize voters, received just under $592,000 from Mississippi Forward PAC. The D.C.-based firm was founded in May 2025 by Jonae Wartel, a former Senior Advisor for the Harris-Walz presidential campaign in Georgia.
Wartel posted on LinkedIn some two months ago, “We are hiring across Mississippi for our 2026 programs. DeSoto County, North Mississippi, and the Delta. We’re looking for State and Deputy Field Directors, Regional Field Directors, and Operations leadership.”
Mississippi Forward PAC’s pre-election filing showed the group with $896,000 remaining cash on hand before the General Election.
Christoper Koob of MBA Consulting Group was listed as the treasurer for UFI. His firm received $8,900 for compliance services from Mississippi Forward PAC. Koob is also listed as Mississippi Forward PAC’s Assistant Treasurer and Designated Agent. Steven Mele, also of MBA Consulting Group, is listed as the PAC’s Treasurer and Custodian of Records.
The FEC complaint alleges that Mississippi Forward PAC registered in Delaware as an exempt organization on August 17, five days after UFI registered in Delaware. FEC now shows Mississippi Forward PAC with a D.C. P.O. Box for its address.
Campaign Legal Center urged the FEC to seek appropriate sanctions for any and all violations, including civil penalties sufficient to deter future violations and an injunction prohibiting the respondents from any and all violations in the future. The watchdog said any person who made contributions in UFI’s name to Mississippi Forward PAC and the others in Kansas and Alaska, violated federal law and should be held accountable.
“Each year, there are more and more efforts to direct undisclosed money into our elections,” Erin Chlopak, the senior campaign finance director at the Campaign Legal Center, told the Washington Post. “Groups continue to find new creative ways to do that.”
You can review the full complaint below.
Frank Corder
