Kamala Harris SuperPAC Spent Lavishly on Firms Owned by PAC Leadership

Future Forward spent at least $8 million on Democratic consulting firms run by its own leadership, raising potential conflict of interest concerns.

Future Forward, the pro-Kamala Harris SuperPAC that raised around $700 million for the presidential campaign, was touted as an unorthodox venture unlike most political entities birthed by the cocktail circuit in Washington, D.C., given its focus on data-driven insights.

In a profile this year, the New York Times described its founders as a “close-knit network of Ph.D.s who have ascended in the party by displaying encyclopedic knowledge of randomized-controlled trials and political science literature.”

Despite branding as a uniquely academic-oriented entity, Future Forward's leaders have engaged in traditional forms of self-dealing common within the Beltway. 

Campaign finance records show that the Kamala Harris SuperPAC spent at least $8.3 million on various Democratic consulting firms owned by the Future Forward leadership. 

That includes $7.2 million to GCJ Research, a survey firm named after Future Forward founders Chauncey McLean, Gaurav Shirole and Jon Fromowitz. 

PFB Media, an advertising agency co-owned by McLean and Fromowitz, received $524,606 in Future Forward fees. Another research firm, OpenLabs, which also does business under Blue Rose Research, received another $759,707 from Future Forward. The founders of the SuperPAC also work at OpenLabs.