Of the roughly $31 million VoteVets raised during the 2024 election cycle, at least $10 million came from nonveteran sources. The organization’s single largest contributor, donating about $2.7 million, was the House Majority PAC, the committee designated by the Democratic Party to elect its members to the lower chamber. Other major nonveteran contributors to VoteVets included the Senate Majority PAC, the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry, the American Federation of Teachers, the International Union of Operating Engineers, and the Democratic Majority Action PAC.

Many of the promises VoteVets makes when claiming to advocate veterans’ interests are couched in the language of the Democratic Party. The organization, for instance, insists that we must reverse “climate change, which threatens global security,” and that “combating the spread of disinformation” is crucial to keeping America safe. The Biden administration, alongside congressional Democrats, has prioritized countering climate change through spending on alternative energy sources and sought to tackle disinformation through initiatives such as the ill-fated Disinformation Governance Board.

Leaders at nonpartisan veteran groups have expressed concerns about military service being exploited for partisan agendas.

“Most mainstream veterans groups are required to be nonpartisan, and it concerns me that we do have groups on both extremes that are very partisan in their approach and very calculating in what they want to accomplish,” Joe Violante, the national legislative director of Disabled American Veterans, said of the group in 2014. Politico reported a year later that Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America founder Paul Rieckhoff “expressed deep misgivings about the veteran label being used to advance partisan agendas.”

While VoteVets does receive a considerable portion of its funds from nonveteran sources, it also receives a significant amount from individual contributions. How much of these individual contributions come from veterans, however, is unknown as the Federal Election Commission does not collect data on veteran status from donors. Some of the PAC’s high-profile donors, such as James Murdoch and Soros heir Alex Soros, are not veterans while others, such as transgender activist Jennifer Pritzker and investor Frank Armstrong, did serve in the armed forces.

VoteVets, which is registered as a PAC, has previously faced scrutiny for allegedly skirting the legal line regarding its cooperation with the Democratic Party. The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust and the Functional Government Initiative, two right-of-center government watchdog groups, filed complaints with the FEC after the Washington Free Beacon reported that the group was handling communications for Democratic congressional candidate Eugene Vindman.

“The facts are clear in this case, VoteVets PAC is providing communications services to Vindman’s campaign, including making statements to the media that are directly attributable to the campaign,” the FACT complaint reads. “This is a service that has value and thus there is reason to believe that Vindman has accepted, and VoteVets has made, an illegal in-kind contribution of communication services … VoteVets is obviously not independent from the campaign and cannot make ‘independent expenditures.’”

PACs are prohibited from coordinating with campaigns for electoral purposes. VoteVets spent over $400,000 on independent expenditures supporting Vindman’s campaign. The FACT argued that the spending, in combination with the PAC performing communications work for Vindman, amounted to illegal coordination. The PAC expended millions supporting Democrats and opposing Republicans through independent expenditures during the 2024 election cycle.

VoteVets did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.