 | |
| Formation | November 2010 |
|---|---|
| Founder | David Brock |
| Founded at | Washington, D.C. |
| Type | Super PAC |
| Methods | Opposition research |
| Affiliations | Media Matters for America |
| Revenue | $150 million[1] (2024) |
| Expenses | $100 million[2] (2024) |
| Website | americanbridgepac |
American Bridge 21st Century orAB PAC[3] is aliberal AmericanSuper PAC andopposition research group that supportsDemocratic candidates and opposesRepublican candidates.[4][5] Founded byDavid Brock in 2010 and associated withMedia Matters for America, the organization is one of the largest networks of liberal donors in the U.S.
American Bridge 21st Century is an opposition research hub for the Democratic Party.[6] The group employstrackers to physically monitor and surveil Republican candidates and officials and uses social media to deploy its findings.
According toPolitico, American Bridge 21st Century is "one of the largest and most public facing organizations affiliated with the Democratic Party." In 2020, the group spent $73 million, "making it one of the most prolific outside spenders on either side of the aisle."[4] In 2024, the group expanded to target U.S. House candidates for the first time; it had previously focused only on presidential races, the U.S. Senate, and state races like governorships. American Bridge 21st Century spent $140 million on ads attackingDonald Trump in the 2024 election.
In 2013, American Bridge PAC employed over 50 trackers to follow and record Republican candidates across the country.[7] These trackers are equipped with high-tech recording gear and are assigned Republican targets to follow and record. According toThe New York Times, the organization "aims to record every handshake, every utterance by Republican candidates ... looking for gotcha moments that could derail political ambitions or provide fodder for television advertisements by liberal groups."[8]USA Today described the group's goal as "uncovering an unguarded moment, a controversial position, a gaffe or flip-flop, anything that can be used to torpedo a political foe's campaign."[9] The organization compiles opposition research dossiers on the Republican candidates they are targeting. The group's opposition dossier onMitt Romney was 2,500 pages long. It has attempted to tie Republican candidates to thepolitical activities of the Koch brothers.[10]
In 2016, American Bridge discovered that theTrump Institute's book was plagiarized, with at least 20 pages coming from a 1995Success article.[11] In 2018, it spent $20.9 million, mostly on employee salaries including the opposition researchers.[12]
In January 2024, American Bridge 21st Century announced plans to spend $140 million on an anti-Donald Trump advertising campaign designed to appeal to working class women in the swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.[13] In May 2024, as part of this advertising campaign, the group spent $25 million on ads criticizing Trump on abortion policy.[14][15]
After President Trump was elected a second time in November 2024, American Bridge 21st Century announced the launch of an opposition research and tracking effort focused on the incoming administration. They dubbed the project "MAGAFiles" and said it would focus on scrutinizing President Trump and his allies.[16]
In February 2025, American Bridge 21st Century convened a focus group of voters who once identified as Democrats but who voted for Donald Trump. The voters said a "phony" and "corrupt" Democratic Party had "embraced far-left social crusades while overseeing a jump in inflation." The focus group was part of a $4.5 million research project designed to figure out what went wrong for Democrats in the 2024 election and how to win back former Democratic Party mainstays who have begun voting Republican. Former Democratic mayor of New OrleansMitch Landrieu, former Democratic U.S. representativeColin Allred, and Democratic politician and advisorTom Perez are involved with the project.[2] American Bridge 21st Century also brought together a group of "despondent" and "adrift" donors from the "Democratic big-money universe" at a Florida donor summit to "try to figure out how the party can recover from Donald J. Trump's victory and extricate itself from the liberal malaise of his looming second term."[1]
American Bridge PAC is largely funded by wealthy Democratic donors, labor unions, and other PACs (Sixteen Thirty Fund/Arabella Advisors). The largest donors of the2020 United States presidential election cycle include billionaireStephen Mandel,[17]Bain Capital co-founderJoshua Bekenstein,[18] real estate TitanGeorge M. Marcus,[19] andLinkedIn co-founderReid Hoffman. In past election cycles billionaireGeorge Soros and others helped the then fledging Super PAC in 2012.[20][21]