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A spokesperson for Democrat Xavier Becerra’s campaign for governor said Monday they’re returning a maximum, $39,200 campaign contribution from a dark money group connected to Republican election lawyers
Read more A mysterious dark money group gave Xavier Becerra $39k. He’s sending it back
When The Sacramento Bee inquired about the check from the Fund for Economic Independence, the campaign said Monday they’re returning the money.
“We couldn’t make sense of why they’d want to give to us, so we sent it back,” said campaign spokesperson Jonathan Underland.
Like other so-called dark money groups flooding U.S. elections, the FEI’s donors are hidden. The group’s feed on the social media platform X is blank, beyond saying it advocates for “policies, leaders, and initiatives that drive economic freedom and prosperity,” and its bare-bones website offers only an address to an office in Alexandria, Virginia.
But other features of the nonprofit suggest a right-wing political bent.
Two of the FEI’s officers on tax and state business filings, Steve Roberts and Nicole Kelly, are attorneys for Lex Politica, a conservative law firm whose clients include Elon Musk, according to The New York Times. The firm’s founder told the Times the firm aims to be “synonymous with the conservative movement.” Roberts and Kelly did not return calls and emails seeking comment.
Federal election filings show the group gave $250,000 to a super PAC supporting Ohio Republican governor candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and $5,000 to a group backing Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla.
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The group claimed to spend $600,000 boosting Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird in 2025 ahead of the Republican’s reelection campaign, according to a now-deleted memo the group posted on X that was republished by the political blog Bleeding Heartland.
The group has given to at least one Democrat: Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones, whose campaign accepted a $25,000 check from the group in July.
Nationally, dark money groups have spent upwards of $1 billion in this year’s midterm elections, according to an analysis published by the Times. The organizations often stem from business groups, billionaires and other special interests who want to keep their identity hidden.
Becerra’s wide lead in polls over Republican Steve Hilton has helped him amass a notable financial edge in the race as groups with interests in policy debates at the Capitol back his campaign. Maximum donors to the Democrat’s campaign include tech companies like Lyft and Turo, corporate interests like CVS Pharmacy and Anheuser-Busch; tribal groups like the Santa Ynez and Morongo; and unions like the California Federation of Teachers and United Domestic Workers of America.
Becerra raised $12.1 million from July 1 through Sept. 19, almost $3 million more than Hilton’s total during the period.
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This story was originally published September 28, 2026 at 4:07 PM.