1 Trending: The Lazy ProPublica Hit Piece On Cleta Mitchell Is Full Of Howlers

2 Trending: Trump Rallies For ‘Best Ever’ AG Paxton At Packed Lubbock Rally

3 Trending: What The Midterm Senate Polls Won’t Tell You (And Where They Might Be Wrong)

4 Trending: You Can Be Your Career-Obsessed Friends’ On-Ramp To Motherhood

ProPublica Spends Millions From Left-Wing Groups Writing Hit Pieces On Democrats’ Favorite Targets

ProPublica’s smear campaigns act as springboards that give Democrats and their media allies the talking points they need to advance their agenda.

Share Article on Facebook

Share Article on Twitter

Share Article on Truth Social

Share Article via Email

The left-wing ProPublica runs a dark money-funded multimillion-dollar “journalistic” operation that boasts about launching smear campaigns against Democrats’ political opponents, and its latest piece attacking one of America’s foremost election integrity advocates is simply further confirmation of that propaganda role.

The self-described “independent” nonprofit published a hit piece on Wednesday against Election Integrity Network founder Cleta Mitchell, who has spent years fighting to secure clean, transparent, and honest elections. Riddled with “election denier” and other Democrat buzzwords, the article attempts to undermine Mitchell and the work she and her allies are doing to bring integrity to America’s electoral system.

[READ: Election Integrity Warrior Cleta Mitchell Drives The Left Crazy]

Far from being an anomaly, the attack article is emblematic of ProPublica’s role as an advocacy arm of the Democrat Party. For years, the leftist-funded outlet has used donated funds to construct lengthy pieces targeting conservative figures, while simultaneously providing Democrats and their media allies with political ammo to advance their agenda.

Unraveling the story of ProPublica requires delving back into its history. The organization was founded in 2007 and quickly assembled a team comprised of figures from across America’s corporate media landscape.

ProPublica’s founding editor-in-chief, CEO, and president (2008-2012) was Paul Steiger, who had previously served as The Wall Street Journal’s managing editor for 16 years. Steiger additionally served as part-time executive chair of the outlet from 2013-2020.

ProPublica’s early leadership team also included Stephen Engleberg, who served as founding managing editor and now serves as editor-in-chief. Similar to Steiger, Engleberg boasts a history working in legacy media, having “previously founded the investigative reporting unit at the New York Times and is [now] on the Pulitzer Prize Board,” according to the Capital Research Center (CRC).

ProPublica is now led by President Robin Sparkman, who also worked at MSNBC (now MS NOW) and Newsweek. Sparkman is also the founding CEO of StoryCorps, a nonprofit media organization whose “areas of focus align with left-of-center perspectives especially on identity-related issues.”

The more interesting details about ProPublica’s makeup, however, can be found when assessing the organization’s funding sources.

A November 2023 Restoration News analysis identified several left-wing organizations responsible for bankrolling the nonprofit, which boasted a revenue of nearly $75 million in 2025.

This list of backers includes the Sandler Foundation, which, as of the report’s release, had given ProPublica nearly $50 million since 2010. Another notable funder is investor Donald Sussman, “who donated $25 million to support Democrats in the 2018 election cycle” and gave the outlet $480,100, per CRC. Additional........

© The Federalist