YouTube ads encourage young men to say ‘Screw ‘em!’ and vote libertarian

A dark money group linked to Kamala Harris campaign attorney Marc Elias is boosting the Libertarian Party’s presidential candidate through a series of YouTube ads in battleground states, an apparent ploy to pull conservative votes away from Donald Trump.

Civic Truth Action, a super PAC launched in July, has spent more than $1.5 million on ads supporting Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver, according to campaign finance disclosures released this week. The group is airing dozens of YouTube ads in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Nevada touting Oliver as a “true conservative” who will “abolish income taxes” and “dismantle the nanny state,” according to the company’s ad database.

But Civic Truth Action isn’t funded by a group of small-government activists. Its sole backer—a dark money outfit called Evidence for Impact—has contributed $4,350,000 to Civic Truth Action since September, according to campaign finance records. Little is known about Evidence for Impact, but records obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show that its “beneficial owner” is Ezra Reese, an attorney at the Democratic elections firm Elias Law Group.

Marc Elias, who opened the firm in 2022, serves as a top lawyer for the Harris campaign. While Democrats consider Elias a hero for his aggressive legal strategies, he has embraced the dark side of politics throughout his career. As an attorney for the Clinton campaign in 2016, Elias commissioned the infamous Steele dossier, which falsely accused Donald Trump of colluding with Russia.

Harris has a deep history with Elias. He served as general counsel to her 2020 presidential campaign, and Harris thanked Elias for his “wise” counsel in her 2019 autobiography. Elias said after joining the Harris team that he looked forward to helping “defend democracy.”

It is unclear whether the Harris campaign has any direct involvement in Evidence for Impact or the Civic Truth Action ad campaign. It is also unclear who has funded Evidence for Impact, which registered in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 2.

The advertisement campaign would seemingly help Harris in battleground states she sees as crucial to winning the White House. Harris has faced scrutiny in Pennsylvania over her calls to ban fracking and has hemorrhaged support among Michigan’s Arab and Muslim voters over the administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

Civic Truth Action is using a “microtargeting” strategy to push many of the advertisements to men between 18 and 34 years old, a demographic seen as more sympathetic to libertarian views.

That’s the case with a Civic Truth Action ad entitled “Screw ‘Em,” which the group has directed at men in Pennsylvania between the ages of 18 and 34. “The media says voting for the person who will eliminate income taxes and protect freedoms is a waste. You know what I say? Screw ‘em, I’m voting for Chase Oliver,” the ad narrator says.

Civic Truth Action has ties to another Democratic group. It paid $80,000 to Civic Truth Coalition for “production research” on Oct. 16, according to campaign disclosures. Civic Truth Coalition has given $430,000 in recent months to Retire Career Politicians, a super PAC funded by members of Bill Gates’s family, and Sixteen Thirty Fund, a prominent liberal dark money group.

Retire Career Politicians has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertisements boosting Independent Nebraska Senate candidate Dan Osborn, the Free Beacon reported.

Christopher Koob, who is listed as treasurer for Civic Truth Action, has worked on the finance teams at the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, according to his biography.

Civic Truth Action, the Harris campaign, and Elias Law Group did not respond to requests for comment.