Millions pour into Nevada primary ads. A third of the money is untraceable.

Groups that don’t have to publicly reveal their donors are behind a significant chunk of campaign ads airing ahead of Nevada’s June primaries, led by one tied to Gov. Joe Lombardo’s (R) re-election campaign, a Nevada Independent analysis found.

Advertisers have spent about $14 million on airtime so far this year, but more than one-third of those dollars are from groups whose funders’ identities aren’t public information, according to an analysis of data from the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.

It reflects the increasingly prominent role that so-called “dark money” groups are playing in American elections, especially since a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling gave more leeway to corporate donations to these groups. These entities do not have to disclose their donors because they are registered as a 501(c)(4), a type of nonprofit that can raise unlimited funds and lobby on issues that exclusively “promote social welfare.”

They cannot engage primarily in political activity, a rule that groups can easily follow by not directly voicing support for a specific candidate and framing their ads as issue-focused. These groups often register as these types of nonprofits to evade scrutiny and backlash over who is bankrolling them.

Also part of the onslaught of untraceable ad spending just before the election: Republican-affiliated groups that have taken advantage of a legal loophole in Nevada allowing certain state-level PACs to avoid disclosing their funders until after the June primaries. That means voters may see a huge blitz of ads just before the election, and know little about who’s responsible until election results are final.

It’s common for both parties to rely on these kinds of funders. For example, one of the top Democratic donors in Nevada is a dark money group. However, this year, Republicans have taken particular advantage of these laws, in large part because the top group behind ads supporting Lombardo is a dark money group.

This is a unique election year in Nevada because there is no presidential or U.S. Senate race, the first time since 2014. As a result, total ad spending so far this cycle is significantly down compared with prior elections.

But the spending from dark money groups isn’t.

They have spent about $5 million in campaign ads so far this cycle, which is at least $1 million more than at the same point in each of the past two election cycles. These ads have been viewed about 77 million times, according to AdImpact.

Brendan Glavin, the director of insights at OpenSecrets, an organization that tracks money in politics, said in an interview that dark money groups have “become ingrained in the process.”

“We’re just seeing it more and more across the country,” he said. “Gubernatorial races, legislative races, and sometimes even … a school board race.”

Lombardo-affiliated nonprofit is top dark money group

The Service First Fund is far and away this year’s leading advertiser in Nevada. With about $4 million already spent, the group is responsible for more than half of the ad spending in Nevada’s governor race.

Although the Service First Fund has spent money on ads before, this year marked a dramatic escalation. Through 2025, it had spent about $334,000 on ads seeking to boost Republican candidates for the Legislature, but it has spent about 12 times as much money in the past five months alone on ads backing Lombardo.

Lombardo’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

The nonprofit began as a way to fundraise for Lombardo’s inauguration in early 2022 before rebranding into an arm of his political machine. Because it is a 501(c)(4), it does not have to disclose its donors.

However, a look at other nonprofits’ tax filings provide a small window into who is bankrolling it. For example, in 2023, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America — a leading trade association representing pharmaceutical companies — gave the group $250,000. It also received $47,000 that year from a group that exclusively gives to Republicans.

It has run a trio of ads touting Lombardo’s policies on healthcare and education that have been seen about 66 million times, per AdImpact.

Although dark money groups can’t engage primarily in political activity, Glavin said an easy workaround is putting out ads focused on policies, rather than a candidate. One of the pro-Lombardo ads, for example, touted his efforts to improve school safety.

“To any reasonable observer, they’re like, ’Oh, this is an ad supporting this person,” he said. “But if the content is presented in such a way that they’re talking about an issue … then they can say, ‘We’re working on this issue.’”

Glavin added the Internal Revenue Service — tasked with ensuring compliance with these laws — “is not designed” to monitor these groups, and there isn’t much political will to track compliance.

It’s rare for a single dark money group to have such a commanding spending lead, Glavin said, but he added the scales may balance out once there is more spending on the Democratic side in the governor’s race.

The other most notable dark money group operating in the state is affiliated with Democrats.

The Effective Governing Coalition, a group run by centrist congressional Democrats, has spent $406,000 in Nevada this year, its first foray into Nevada political advertising. Its sole ad launched earlier this year supported Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV).

The group’s tax filings are not available online, meaning it is unclear how much money it has brought in. However, other tax filings show it received $101,000 last year from the Cedar Innovation Foundation, a group affiliated with the cryptocurrency industry.

Lee’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Republicans take advantage of report timing loophole

Under Nevada law, the final campaign finance report before the June primary must be submitted in April, so if a group has not had any donors at the time of the April report, the public won’t know who is funding it until after the primary election is over.

Because this information isn’t in state campaign finance reports, the public has to rely on third-party groups such as AdImpact to see how much spending there has been.

It’s common for both parties to take advantage of this loophole. In 2024, negative campaign mailers from a Democratic official sought to oust Sen. Dina Neal (D-North Las Vegas). Two years earlier, a Republican-affiliated PAC spent heavily in the primary for secretary of state.

But so far this year, it’s been all Republicans.

The Nevada Frontline Victory Fund — a state arm of a national group focused on electing Republican attorneys general — has spent about $230,000 in ads so far since this so-called “shadow period” began in support of candidate Adriana Guzmán Fralick, part of a half-million-dollar ad buy. The group became a PAC in Nevada at the start of April.

The group did not respond to a request for comment.

The Save Nevada Now PAC — a group started by Assm. Lisa Cole (R-Las Vegas) — launched in March but did not report any donors on its April campaign finance report. It has spent about $440,000 so far in May on ads, all after the shadow period began, and is behind an ad attacking Guzmán Fralick’s primary opponent, Danny Tarkanian.

Together, these two groups are responsible for more than 90 percent of ad spending so far in support of Guzmán Fralick. Both groups did not respond to requests for comment.

Guzmán Fralick’s campaign declined to comment.

In the Democratic primary for attorney general, there are no so-called “shadow PACs,” but a key group opposing Treasurer Zach Conine is Leadership in Nevada, which has essentially been defunct for the past few years.

It’s unclear if the donors behind these ads have been disclosed on previous campaign finance reports. The PAC does not have to disclose how much cash it has, but in its decade of existence, it has received about $300,000 more contributions than payments it has made.

Megan Jones, a Democratic political operative behind the PAC, did not respond to questions about the group’s activity.

Another new PAC is not in airwaves, but mailboxes. Clarity 775, a group run by Assm. Greg Koenig (R-Fallon), is behind mailers supporting Republican Stacy Woodbury in her bid for Assembly District 40.

Koenig did not say who the donors are, but he told The Indy they are helping fulfill the PAC’s mission of representing Northern Nevada, as many other groups are based in Southern Nevada.

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This story was originally published by The Nevada Independent and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.