Soros-linked groups help back Virginia redistricting fight funded by web of dark money

Virginians for Fair Elections, the main group fighting to get Virginia voters to approve a referendum vote that would allow Virginia voters to redraw the state’s congressional maps, has been pumped with millions in cash from a network of dark money groups and senior Democratic Party officials backed by George Soros.

The money the group is raising ahead of Tuesday’s vote, which will allow Democrats in the House to take four seats from Republicans heading into the midterm elections, also comes from prominent Democratic Party figures and organizations like Nancy Pelosi and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

Other left-wing juggernauts pumping money into the Democratic Party’s redistricting efforts in Virginia include the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Eric Holder’s National Democratic Redistricting Committee, which once advocated for the adoption of “independent redistricting commissions,” the national green energy group League of Conservation Voters and the U.S. House campaign arm for the Democratic Party, according to a Fox News Digital review of state campaign finance records and Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP) records. Tracking public spending in Virginia.

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“Dark money is flowing into Virginia,” GOP strategist Matt Gorman told Fox News Digital. “Democrats talked about the cost of living during the campaign, but when they took office all they did was raise taxes and rig elections. The same thing will happen elsewhere in the country in 2026.”

Fox News Digital reported in March that the left-wing group fighting to redraw Virginia’s maps had raised more than $38 million, according to VPAP’s fundraising totals based on state campaign finance records. Just a few weeks later, just before the referendum vote in mid-April, that total rose to over $64 million.

The largest donor to Virginians for Fair Elections in 2026 was the nonprofit organization House Majority Forward. House Democrats Records show the House Majority PAC has donated more than $38 million.

Meanwhile, according to VPAP’s accounting of donation totals, organizations that are directly tied to Soros or have received significant funds that trace their roots to the billionaire Democratic megadonor rank second and third in terms of total donations to the group.

One of these groups, Policy Reform Fund Inc. It was founded by Soros. The other project, titled The Fairness Project, is funded by groups such as the Sixteen Thirty Fund, Hopewell Fund and Tides Foundation, to which Soros provides significant funding.

George Soros photographed on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2020. (Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Another of Virginians on the left’s biggest donors to Fair Elections is American Opportunity Action, described by dark money expert Parker Thayer of the conservative Center for Equity Research as a “pure pass-through entity.” The group is so new that it doesn’t even appear to have any 990 numbers filed with the IRS, but it’s still one of the largest donors to Virginians for Fair Elections, according to VPAP and state campaign finance records.

Reps. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., according to a review of state campaign finance records. and Katherine Clark, D-Mass. Senior Democratic members of Congress from outside Virginia, including those from Virginia, also donated tens of thousands of dollars. The PAC led by Democratic Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine also donated $100,000, while the Democratic Party of Virginia donated just under a million dollars, according to VPAP’s accounting.

Meanwhile, a group founded by Obama wingman Eric Holder, who previously advocated for “independent redistricting commissions,” provided more than $10,000 in in-kind contributions to the left-wing redistricting group, according to state election filings. League of Conservation Voters and Soros-backed MoveOn.org Virginians were also among Fair Election’s biggest donors. In terms of union support, SEIU gave half a million and AFT gave $100,000.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Soros’ Open Society Foundations and other prominent donors who poured thousands or millions into the redistricting fight but did not receive a response before publication.

“No one wanted to take this action, but in a democracy, we cannot allow entire states to change their congressional maps to bend to the will of one person,” Alexis Magnan-Callaway, a spokesperson for The Fairness Project, told Fox News Digital in March.

“We have to respond. This change is a temporary, one-time exception that gives Virginia voters a voice and meets the needs of the current moment, while also ensuring that Virginia’s bipartisan redistricting process continues after the 2030 census,” he continued. “This is not about choosing one party over another. This is about restoring fairness across the board by temporarily changing Virginia’s congressional districts.”

Virginians For Fair Maps, the main group opposing the Democrat-led redistricting effort in Virginia, had raised just over $3 million at the time of Fox News Digital’s late March reporting. However, the right-wing redistricting group in Virginia also appears to have gained some ground since then, though it remains far behind the funding totals of Virginians for Fair Elections on the left.

Just before Tuesday’s referendum vote, the anti-restriction referendum group increased its fundraising total to nearly $20 million; Most of this money came from a group of the same name that is also a major donor to the Virginia Republican Party.

Other donations to the group come from much smaller donors, such as $50,000 from the National Shooting Sports Foundation and $100,000 from a wealthy D.C.-area real estate investor who donates primarily to GOP campaigns. This investor is the largest individual donor at $100,000 among a handful of individual contributions, according to VPAP.

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin speaks during the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Path to Majority Politics Conference held at the Washington Hilton on June 22, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Samuel Çorum/Getty Images)

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Former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, reportedly donated more than $500,000 to efforts against the redistricting measure, the Virginia Scope reported. He also became a prominent voice in Virginia, holding events campaigning against the measure, even though he was no longer in office.

Wealthy tech entrepreneur and Republican donor Peter Thiel reportedly donated to Justice for Democracy PAC, which is part of the anti-redistricting effort along with Virginians for Fair Maps.