AI safety group Public First Action supported Colorado candidate Manny Rutinel through a $2m transfer to Latino Victory Fund, a Latino-focused super PAC, Transformer has learned.
Latino Victory Fund says it exists to mobilize Latino voters and elect Latinos to office, according to its website. Neither group publicly disclosed the arrangement ahead of Rutinel’s victory last night.
The financial transfer obscured Public First’s spend on Rutinel from voters before election day. While Latino Victory Fund has disclosed spending $1m on ads supporting Manny Rutinel and $1m on ads against his opponent, Shannon Bird, it does not have to disclose Public First’s payment to the PAC until later this month — in effect hiding the ultimate source of the money until then.
Public First Action is the 501(c)(4) arm of the Public First super PAC network, which has generally backed candidates supporting AI safety policies. On Tuesday, it announced it had raised $80m in total funding (though that number cannot be confirmed). So far this cycle it has distributed over $11m to its affiliated super PACs, Public First PAC, Jobs and Democracy PAC, and Defending Our Values PAC.
Obscuring funding this way is not illegal. But it means voters went to the polls without knowing that a group focused on AI policy, not Latino representation, was backing Rutinel. By supporting Rutinel through another PAC, Public First has arguably subverted the purpose of FEC disclosures, which are designed to provide voters with information on who may be trying to influence their vote. Though polling was mixed, Rutinel has been the favorite to win his primary on prediction market Kalshi since December.
